


Inheritance

by TwicetheTrouble



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean lance, Blue loves her paladin, Galra Keith, M/M, Not the focus - Freeform, adam leaves earth with paladins, also last paladin, blue is a picky lion, but thats fine, disguises, he's just there so Lance can b altean, his grandfather was altean, i got kidnapped by plot bunnies, lance basically inherits blue, more adam then originally planned too, more klance then originally planned, not all altean tho, or visually galra looking keith, small oc, they made me do it, tho i didn't put up much of a fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2019-09-02 08:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16783048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwicetheTrouble/pseuds/TwicetheTrouble
Summary: Blue has always been a very picky lion when it comes to her paladins, due to needing one who's gifts work well with her own gift of foresight. So when the lions were scattered, Alfor sent her paladin (an altean named Allot) with her so she wouldn't have to worry about finding a new one. But Blue has other plans.Now, a hundred years after she released her previous paladin from cryo, it is finally time to reform Voltron, and Lance couldn't be more excited. His grandfather, Allot, has been training and preparing him for this very moment for his entire life. And now that it's finally here, he can finally be who he was destined to be.or Lance is 1/4 Altean and inherited Blue from his grandfather. That and Blue can see the future, and sometimes shares it with Lance.





	1. It's Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! So i really had no intention of starting this but I wanted something I could work on at work so here we are. I'll tell you now, this probably won't be updated very often. It's definitely going to be one of my side fics since i'm literally working out of a notebook between patrons at my job.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Blue Paladin- Allot- 100 Years Before

The pod hissed open, steam flowing out of the door in a huge cloud. The cover had barely receded when an armor-clad figure tumbled out onto the floor. He showed no signs of life, not even breathing until the floor of the ship jolted violently. His body was jostled a few inches, eyes snapping open in response. He immediately began coughing, the sound drowned out easily by the concerned rumbling of his ship.

“I’m alright, Blue,” the man whispered once the coughing had subsided. “Don’t worry about me.”

She purred in response, as if telling him it was her job. Allot smiled lightly, pulling himself up on shaky limbs, his legs barely able to hold his weight even as he leaned against the wall. He looked ragged despite the time spent in the pod. His short, white hair disheveled, the small braid he kept tucked behind his pointed ears starting to come loose. Even his once pristine paladin armor was dented and scratched up from what looked to be recent abuse.

He ran a hand over his face, bright blue scale marks shining at the touch. He looked exhausted despite the extended sleep he just woke up from.

The Blue paladin took his time getting to the pilot chair his lion left out for him. Once he sat down, she pulled the seat into position almost gently. At least it seemed that way compared to the jolting eagerness she normally exhibited.

“Thanks girl,” the paladin whispered, using shaky hands to tap at the mostly dark panels in front of him. “So, where are we?”

The screens in front of him lit up, showing some coordinates in Altean as well as a picture of a small, blue and green planet with an even smaller, “we are here,” dot on it.

“It’s a cute little planet. Lots of water. I can see why you choose it,” the Altean stated, studying the location closely. “But why did you hide in a desert?” An annoyed grumble filled the ship as she showed him some pictures of her hiding in an underwater cave only for it to dry up as time passed. He chuckled at her.

“Bad luck then, huh?” His amusement faded as his tired brain worked through the info he was given. “Um, Blue? How long have we been here?”

The lion hesitated a moment before some Altean numbers appeared on the screen.

“Almost ten-thousand deca-phebes?!” Allot exclaimed, sitting straight in his chair for the first time since he woke. “Blue, why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

She purred at him in a calming tone but he didn’t want to hear it.

“No, it’s not fine. We’re at war! What if Alfor needed us during that time?”

She continued to purr as his expression changed from anger to hurt.

“He’s dead?” He took a shaky breath before continuing. “It has been ten-thousand deca-phebes. I mean, no one can live that long but…how did he die? _When_ did he die?”

The Altean characters on the screen were replaced with different ones, making the paladin’s frown worsen.

“Blue, we had barely left. If that’s true then we weren’t even halfway here.” He went quiet for a moment, staring at the screen blankly. “We should have stayed. We could have-“

A sharp growl interrupted him.

“I know it wouldn’t have helped much but-“

Allot was interrupted again, this time by fuzzy videos playing across the screen. They depicted Altea getting destroyed by Galra fighters and the Castle of Lions seemingly abandoned on an unknown planet. She even continued on, showing him the multitude of planets that have fallen to the empire while they slept. She was making it perfectly clear that there was nothing they could have done.

“I get it,” he whispered, taking a breath before continuing. “Then what do we do next? I assume we’re the ones in charge of bringing Voltron back. That means finding new paladins and figuring out where your siblings hid themselves. I suppose I could-“

Allot was cut off again by the low grumble of his lion wanting to be heard.

“What do you mean it’s not time yet?” She made the sound again as if repeating herself. “If it’s not time then why did you wake me now?”

She made another calm rumble that didn’t amuse him.

“So, I have a job to do but it’s not bringing Voltron back.” He sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “What’s my job then?”

Blue stayed mysteriously silent, ignoring the question. He sighed.

“Fine, how about a different question. When will it be time to bring back Voltron?”

Numbers flowed onto the screen, making the paladin even more tired.

“A hundred deca-phebes huh? I’m assuming by then I won’t be your paladin.”

The lion whined sadly in response.

“That’s alright girl, it’s not too much of a surprise. We knew I wouldn’t be a paladin for very long when you chose me. I just figured that’s because I’d die not…whatever this is.”

Blue hummed comfortingly.

“Do you know who your next paladin will be?”

She hummed again, this time more for affirmation.

“Show me,” he whispered.

His eyes and markings began to glow a light blue as he starred at something unseen. A few of the screens flashed briefly showing blurry versions of what he himself was seeing. One was of a young child, no older than five, standing with their grandfather. They had matching white hair and blue marks. The grand father pointed up at Blue as the child stared at it in awe.

_“This is Blue, a dear friend of mine. You’re going to be her paladin one day._ ”

The next was of the same boy, though ten or twelve years older. His hair had been dyed brown and his marks hidden, but he was still recognizable. He stood cockily in front of a small group of people, hand outstretched towards Blue’s forcefield.

_“Maybe you just have to knock?_ ”

The last was of that boy a few years later, clad in blue paladin armor. His hair was once again white and marks unhidden. He was fighting side by side with that same group of people, all wearing different paladin armor as well. They worked together seamlessly, a perfect team. The new blue paladin took out an enemy with his riffle from halfway across the battlefield.

_“Great shot, sharpshooter,_ ”

Allot’s glow faded in time with the distorted videos. He chuckled, a small smile on his face.

“I see how it is. You get to sit here for the next hundred deca-phebes while I have to go out and find your paladin for you.”

She rumbled in amusement.

“Though I suppose a more accurate way of phrasing it is that I have to go out and _make_ your next paladin.”

Blue made a non-committal hum that made him laugh for real.

“You can’t convince me otherwise, Blue. I may not have your sight but I can recognize my own kin when I see them.”

They were quiet for a long while, both lost in thought.

“He’s going to be a good paladin, right? Not like how Zarkon turned out,” He asked. She hummed encouragingly. “Good, I can’t wait to meet him.”

Allot smiled gently before climbing to his feet, slowly making his way towards the back of the ship.

“I’ll leave my armor here so you have it. I have some spare clothing stored away that I can change into.”

He stopped in the doorway, a thought striking him.

“Oh, I’m going to need to know what the locals look like, I suppose. Think you can find out?”

Blue gave an indignant huff as several pictures of humans appeared on the screen.

“Of course, you’ve already done it. How could I have doubted you.” He shot her a teasing grin before studying the pictures closely. “Doesn’t look too hard to copy. Basically, just weird ears and no marks. I wonder if this species is a descendant of us Alteans, because the resemblance is pretty uncanny if not.”

Blue cooed at him, making him chuckle.

“Right, I should change my hair too. Just to be safe. I’ll see what I can do.”

About ten minutes later Allot was outside his lion, dressed in a set of non-descript clothing. It was clear that he cleaned himself up some but the biggest change in his appearance was his disguise. Her hair was now a chocolate color that matched his normal, darker skin tones quite well. His face seemed almost empty without his marks, and his ears quite a bit shorter.

“Well blue, I’m off.” Allot rubbed at one of his ears absently, not used to the difference. “I won’t be far so if you need me at all in the next hundred deca-phebes, just call.”

Blue rumbled softly, her paladin patting her leg in response.

“I’ll miss you too. Be safe.”

She huffed at him.

“Yeah, I’ll be safe too. No worries.” He chuckled, taking a few steps forward towards the exit before stopping and turning around. Blue’s eyes had already dimmed in sleep, her force field putting itself in place as he watched.

“Goodbye Blue,” he whispered, his own echo being the only response. “I’ll see you soon.”

Lance-100 years later-

_‘Paladin,’_ a voice whispered in his head. Lance tried to ignore it so to earn some more sleep. But she was persistent.

_‘Paladin,’_ she insisted, making the teen groan.

“What?” he whined back quietly. His girl, Blue, was becoming increasingly vocal as of late and it could be kind of annoying at times. Like, for instance, when he was trying to sleep.

He felt Blue’s amusement through their bond at his complaint, but that was nothing new. She’s been able to hear him since they first met when he was five, and visa versa. By this point it felt like his thoughts had always been shared with the giant, metal lion, and he saw no reason to change it.

‘ _It’s time_ ,’ she said, her excitement bubbling in the back of Lance’s mind.

“Yeah, time to sleep. I have a test in the morning,” Lance answered.

‘ _No, it’s time_.’

“Fine, I’ll bite. Time for what?”

‘ _It’s time. It’s time. It’s time_!’

Lance sighed, shaking his head.

“That’s not very specific, Blue.”

‘ _It’s time_ ,’ she said again, but this time it was accompanied with images. A pod crashing in the desert. A hover bike rushing through the sand, carrying _way_ too many people. That same group piled into Blue’s cockpit as Lance flew through a wormhole. Then, finally, a picture of five mechanical lions coming together to form a giant, formidable, Robot.

Lance blinked several times as the images faded from his mind. That wasn’t something she did often, in fact, she had never did it to him before now. He only knew of it from his Papa Allot’s stories. That these snapshots of the future could only be seen by her, and only shared with someone from their bloodline.

Lance sat there for a while, trying to figure out what was so important about all that when Blue interrupted his thoughts once again.

‘ _It’s time_ ,’ she said more adamantly. Lance sat up now, running a hand through his, no doubt, terrible bed head.

“Alright, I’m moving,” he replied, getting up to find some civilian clothes for this adventure Blue was about to take him on. They had to be good ones because he didn’t think he would have a chance to change his mind anytime soon. “And we need to expand your vocabulary because ‘it’s time’ isn’t going to cut it.”

Blue purred in amusement, making Lance smile.

“Lance, what are you doing?” he heard Hunk mumble from across the room. The light clicked on to show his sleepy roommate rubbing his eyes. “It’s 3am man, go back to sleep.”

“Nah, I’m going on an adventure,” Lance shot him a grin before switching his shirt for his favorite blue jersey.

“Alright Bilbo Baggins. Have fun with that. _I’m_ going back to bed.” Hunk flopped back onto his pillow, obviously intent on not joining his escapades. Lance was going to let him but Blue prodded at his mind, pointing out Hunk in the group of people crowded in his lion. Apparently, his friend had to be there.

So, with a shrug he grabbed some of Hunk’s civilian clothes and dropped them on his roommate.

“Wha-“

“Time to get dressed, Hunk. This is a team adventure.”

“Oh no. No. No no nonono. I’m not getting involved in this.” He tried to push the clothes away but Lance held them in place. “Keep me out of your weird schemes.”

“Can’t do that, man. It’s a team adventure. You have to be there. Them’s the rules, I don’t make them up.”

“Yes you do,” said, shooting him a flat look. “And if it’s a team thing, why isn’t Pidge coming?”

Lance thought of the images he saw again, this time needing no prodding to find the small, green-clad gremlin in the crowd.

“We’ll pick him up on the way,” he said simply. “So, get dressed or we’re not gonna make it in time.”

“And where, exactly, are we going?” Hunk asked, finally giving up the fight and starting to change.

“Well first we have to find Pidge. After that, I don’t know.” Lance shrugged as he slipped his shoes on and grabbed his coat. “But I can tell you this, it’s going to be amazing.”


	2. Saying Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back! I'm really excited with the reception of this fic. I honestly didn't expect very much since this is literally the side fic of all side fics. But hey! You guys like it! Which makes me really happy to see!
> 
> So here's a new chapter for yah. And just for future referance, if i skip events then just assume they went down as they did in cannon (for the most part). I'm not going to rehash everything, instead i'm going to stick to the things that i know will be different because of the changes i made.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

The early morning sun streamed through the small shack’s dusty window. Most of its current inhabitance were asleep by now, but Lance definitely wasn’t. He laid on the sand covered floor, grinning like a mad man. He was excited, probably more than normal considering Blue’s excitement was accenting his own.

They were all here, the whole group Blue had shown them earlier that night. In fact, the first two visions he’d already seen happen, which kind of blew his mind. It’s not that he doubted they would but it was one thing to trust they would happen, and another thing entirely to actually see them.

Lance felt Blue’s smug pride at his amazement, almost like a non-verbal ‘I told you so.’ He chuckled lightly not wanting to wake the others.

“Hey Lance,” Hunk whispered from a few feet away. Lance glance over to see that his friend wasn’t as asleep as he thought. “You awake?”

“Can’t sleep now, too excited,” Lance answered truthfully.

“About what? We’re literally hiding out in a desert shack because we broke Garrison rules and probably committed treason or something. What is so exciting about that?”

“Everything,” Lance breathed, smile still on his face. “And it’s time.”

Blue laughed through their bond, a little too happy at his choice of words.

“Time for what?” Hunk asked, sounding as confused as Lance was earlier.

“Time for me to get some air.” Lance climbed to his feet with a grin before heading towards the door. “I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t let the others leave without me.”

“Leave to go where?” Hunk blinked at him. Lance only laughed. “And where are you going?”

“Bye Hunk!” Lance waved over his shoulder before heading out the door.

-

It didn’t take long to get to where he wanted to go. Maybe a half hour at the most, probably would have made better time if he had more than a vague memory of where he was going. But soon enough, a different shabby house came into view making him grin. It had been a long time since he’d been here, but it didn’t look like Papa Allot’s house changed a bit.

His grandfather had traveled a lot while he was on Earth but had settled down here about twenty years ago. There had apparently been some sort of incident that almost revealed Blue to their enemies and Papa Allot didn’t want to be far in case it happened again.

He quickened his pace, wanting to get there faster. When that didn’t prove fast enough, he broke into an excited run.

Lance hadn’t been able to speak with his grandfather since he started at the Garrison. Papa Allot didn’t have a phone so the only way the two of them could talk was through an alien communicator. He had been worried that the garrison, with their higher tech, would be able to pick up on it. Which that would have made for some very difficult conversations with his superiors so they had maintained radio just in case.

Lance burst through the front door, kicking up sand as he panted lightly from the sprint.

“Papa Allot! Guess what?” He yelled as soon as he entered the room. Lance frowned lightly when he noticed it was empty. In fact, the Livingroom looked like it hadn’t been touched in a while. The old furniture was covered in a collection of dust and sand while cobwebs made their homes in all four corners of the room.

An uneasy feeling settled in Lance’s gut as Blue remained oddly silent. He moved on to the kitchen area, finding that it was in much the same shape.

“Papa Allot, are you here?” He called again, peaking into the bathroom before moving onto the bedroom.

“Papa Allot?” He called quietly. The bedroom was exactly like the rest of the rooms, empty of life and full of dust.

He was just about to leave when he noticed an envelope propped up on the dresser. It was fairly plain looking, if not for Lance’s name scrawled across the front in Altean characters.

He gingerly picked up the envelope, noting its extra weight as he did. Lance only hesitated a moment before opening it and carefully removing the contents. Inside was what appeared to be an odd-looking watch and a letter. He placed the watch aside, giving the letter his full attention.

He stared at it for a long moment before finally getting the courage to unfold the paper and read it. On it was a mix of Altean and English that Lance knew him well for. It was sometimes hard for him to find the right word in either language since they didn’t always translate well between each other. Luckily his grandfather had made a point of teaching him the alien language so he had no problem reading it.

He smiled at the familiarity of it before going on to actually read the letter.

“ _Dear Lance,_

_As you may have noticed, I have left the cabin. I’m not exactly sure how long I’ve been gone at the time you’re reading this, but it’s probably been a while. I’ve been told I don’t have much time left, but Blue’s concept of time has always been a bit different than mine. To Blue anywhere between a few hours and a decade constitutes as too short, especially for those she cares for._

_I’m assuming you’re here looking for me because you’ll be leaving soon as well. That Blue has shown you what is to come and is about to whisk you off to the stars. I wish I could be there to see you off. To see my Blue fly once again, even if I’m not the one piloting her. But at this moment, I am content just knowing that she is finally going to rejoin her siblings to protect the universe like they’re supposed to._

_I know you may be nervous, there’s a lot riding on you and her. But know that this is not a burden you need to carry alone. You’re going to have four other teammates to share it with, and four other lions as well. You’ll be a great team, I’ve seen it for myself. So trust in them and trust in your own skills and you’ll do fine. I have done my best to train you for this. I wouldn’t have left if I thought you were not ready._

_With all that said, I leave the Blue lion in your very capable hands. Take care of each other in my absence. I will miss you both dearly._

_Now go forth, Blue Paladin Lance McClain, and remind the universe what Voltron can do! They’re counting on you after all._

_Love,_

_Papa Allot_

_Ps. Since I know how self-conscious you are about your marks and hair, and I doubt you’ll be able to find any more of your makeup and hair dye in space, I have put together a small personal disguise devise for you. It took me quite some time to procure all the parts otherwise I would have given it to you years ago. It’s already set it up to change what you’d need changed so you won’t have to worry about anything like that. I personally see no reason why you would need to hide them once you’re off planet but since I have the ability to hide mine if I want, I thought it best to give you that chance as well.”_

Lance stood there for a while after he was done reading the letter. It took some time for it to sink in after all. His grandfather was gone. Not dead, or he at least hoped not dead. He didn’t even say where he went, just that he left Blue in his care. And Blue was being oddly quiet about the whole thing. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

“You already knew he was gone,” Lance stated to her.

She confirmed it a bit hesitantly, showing a small clip of his grandfather visiting her a few weeks ago with a bag over his shoulder and a smile on his face. This wasn’t a surprise to Lance. Blue kept many secrets from him while he could keep nothing from her. After all, she had many centuries to learn about the paladin/lion bond while he only had the last twelve years. He understood why it was necessary. She knew so many things because of her gift, if she shared them all with him it could fry his brain, turning him into a vegetable. But he would admit, it did hurt a bit that she didn’t even tell him that his own grandfather left the area.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as Blue mewed a quiet apology. It was over and done with now. Being upset about it would fix nothing.

“Will he be alright?” He asked. She was silent for a moment before showing him a small glimpse of the future as if to make up for not telling him sooner. It wasn’t much, just a small snap shot of Papa Allot leading a scared group of people through some unfamiliar tunnels. What surprised him more than this was the fact that he was accompanied by an older version of his sister, Veronica.

The vision faded quickly, making him feel a little better despite things. That had to be a few years off so he took what comfort he could get knowing that his grandfather would be alright for at least that long.

“Thanks Blue,” Lance murmured. He smiled lightly as Blue purred. “I needed that.”

With his grandfather’s safety all but assured, he turned his attention to the watch that had come with the letter. He flipped it around in his hand, trying to figure out how it worked. Blue seemed amused for a few minutes as he fumbled until finally taking pity on him and pointing his attention towards the back of the letter. Right where she had pointed was some fairly detailed directions to the watch written completely in Altean.

After reading through what he needed to know he strapped the devise to his wrist, not turning it on for the time being. Instead he turned towards the mirror, taking in his appearance. His foundation had started to wear away during the crazy events of last night. He could just make out the light blue check marks under his eyes that his grandfather and him both shared. He used his coat sleeve to wipe the remainder away, making the marks shine in the dark room. His hair dye wasn’t much better, having started fading a week or so ago, leaving his bright white roots to stand out easily against the rest of his hair. He had planned to dye it again over the weekend, but he doubted that was going to happen now.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Lance muttered to himself, tapping a few buttons on the wrist band, activating it. The devise beeped once before a Star Trek teleporter type light surrounded him briefly only to fade away a moment later. When he glanced into the mirror again, he looked normal. His hair was a chocolate color he always preferred and his face was clear of any markings. In fact, there wasn’t even a hint of them that he could see.

Lance smiled happily, touching his face where his marks used to be in disbelief.

“Wow, he wasn’t kidding.” Lance examined his hair, not finding a single white hair among the now dark, wavy locks. “This thing’s great.”

Blue cooed at him, sending praises and compliments his way, making him laugh.

“Aww, thanks Blue. I’m sure you look pretty fine yourself.”

She chuckled, before informing Lance that he should head back. The image of an awake Shiro and Keith looking into the desert popped into his mind. According to her, it was a current view, but if he didn’t get back soon, they’d probably leave without him.

“They can’t leave without me,” he said proudly. “I’m their ride.”

She hummed in thought, playfully toying with the idea of choosing a different paladin from the group if he was late. She offered a picture of Keith, thinking he could be an interesting match.

“No, just no. You’re not having the drop-out as your new paladin! I refuse to let him have that too!” Lance exclaimed, hurrying to collect the letter before darting out of the room to Blue’s rumbling laughter.

Lance paused at the front door, looking back into the abandoned house once more.

“ _Goodbye Papa Allot,_ ” he mumbled, speaking in Altean more because it felt right then anything else. “ _Hope to see you again soon.”_

So, with a fond smile he was out the door once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	3. getting answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith asks some questions and Lance gives some answers. everyone else is just confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back! As you may have noticed i've added a few tags to my fic. What can i say? I got knocked over the head with an idea yesterday and decided that it would go pretty well with this fic. Mostly because i really wanted to add Adam in to the equation to see what happens. That and I figured Shiro and Adam would make for a pretty good B-plot so the whole fic isn't completely revolving around Lance (as much as we love our blue Paladin.)
> 
> Anyways, more on that later (next chapter. when it's done.) Right now, here's some fun other stuff!
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“Lance! Where have you been?” Pidge demanded as soon as he entered the door. “We were about to make Keith go look for you.”

“What?! Why him?” Lance bristled in annoyance.

“Because I’m the one that knows the area best.” Keith crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow in response. “Who better to find a lost idiot-“

“I wasn’t lost!” Lance exclaimed over him. “I knew exactly where I was going thank you very much! Well, for the most part anyways. Got turned around on the way back but it worked out in the end. Came across your hoverbike trail and it lead me right back here.”

“Where did you go anyways?” Hunk asked. He and Pidge were fiddling with something at the table that Lance wasn’t even going to pretend to recognize. “I thought you went out for a walk, not an almost two-hour adventure through the desert.”

“My grandpa lived close by so I thought I’d go visit.” Lance shrugged, dropping onto the couch. “But he apparently moved so all I got to see was his sandy, old hut. Kind of a let down really. I went all the way to say hi and the only thing there was a letter. Oh, and a cool watch. But no-“

“Wait, _you’re_ that old man’s grandson?!” Keith interrupted. He was staring at Lance in surprise, which was kind of freaking him out.

“Yeah? I’m assuming you meet him at some point?”

“But he’s…” Keith made some odd gestures that only confused Lance. “And you’re-“

He cut himself off, still staring at Lance in shock.

“Alright? Is this guy acting weird or is it just me?” Lance asked the others, pointing his thumb towards Keith.

Before anyone could answer Keith was right in front of Lance, closer than the other boy was rightfully comfortable with. Lance was fumbling with some very vocal complaints as Keith grabbed his arm, pulling down his coat sleeve to get a look at his wrist. It took a second for Lance to realize that it was the wrist he had his new disguise device attached to.

Uneasiness settled into the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know why Keith was interested in the watch, but the intense gaze he was using on it didn’t bode well. Keith looked at Lance briefly before slowly reaching with his other hand towards the watch’s off button. Lance grabbed ahold of his hand before he even reached the devise.

“Don’t you dare.” Lance glared at Keith, who was looking a lot smugger then he was a second ago. Lance realized with a start that Keith must have known exactly what that button did.

“You’re just like him, aren’t you? Without that anyways.” Keith nodded towards the devise. Lance’s eyes snapped up reflexively, his gaze catching on Keith’s own wrist. Particularly a very similar looking watch half hidden in his sleeve. It was a lot older than Lance’s and was of a slightly different design, but it was still recognizable.

“Yep, look just like him. Minus the ears,” Lance admitted, watching Keith’s reaction carefully. The other boy just nodded.

“What about you? Who did you take after to get one of these?”

Lance tapped Keith’s corresponding wrist. His eyes shot wide in response before snapping his hand away from Lance’s and the button.

“My mom,” he admitted after a long moment. “She…wasn’t from around here.”

“Funny, neither was my grandfather,” Lance stated with a quirky smile.

“I noticed.”

“If Lance looking like his grandfather has anything to do with why you’re straddling him right now, you’ve got some issues man,” Pidge pipped up.

Keith and Lance both flushed bright red as they realized the situation they were in. Keith was in fact kneeling in Lance’s lap while the other three people in the room observed. Both boys scrambled away from each other, Keith tumbling onto the floor while Lance fell over the back of the couch. He barely dodged landing on his head, but he still somehow ended up upside-down at a very confused Shiro’s feet.

“Do I want to know what’s going on?”

“Probably not,” Lance stated, sending a bright grin to the older pilot. He held his hand up in an offered handshake despite still being on the floor. “I’m Lance by the way.”

“Shiro,” he greeted, hesitating a moment before bending down to shake the offered hand.

“I know. You’re kind of legendary, dude.”

“Um…do you need help?” Shiro asked, Looking concerned at the still upside-down boy in front of him.

“Yeah, but he can get up just fine,” Keith stated, already off the floor himself.

“Rude.” Lance rolled to his feet, hands planted on his hips. “And here I thought we were bonding.”

“That wasn’t bonding, that was me getting answers.” Keith dusted himself off, avoiding Lance’s gaze in the process.

“From my lap?”

“If necessary, then yes!” Keith exclaimed, his face turning as bright red as his jacket.

“If you wanted to sit on my lap, you could have just asked.” Lance sent a wink Keith’s way. The glare he got back could have killed a lesser man. Probably.

“I may have a good deal of respect for you grandfather, but it sure as hell doesn’t extend to you.” Keith crossed his arms like he was trying to physically keep his hand from punching Lance in the face.

“Ouch, that’s a burn,” Hunk stated.

“Gee Hunk, thanks for the support.”

“Look man, if I had my way, I’d still be in bed at the garrison right now,” Hunk said, his eyes still locked on his devise.

“It’s noon,” Keith informed him with a raised eyebrow.

“I stand by my words.”

“Well, I guess we’re lucky to have you,” Shiro said.

Lance thought back to the images Blue had shown him, making the boy laugh.

“That’s not luck,” Lance muttered, leaning against the back of the couch. “All that, all _this_ , it’s fate.”

Lance looked up to find everyone else staring oddly at him.

“What? It is!”

“And on that note, we’re done.” Pidge held up the odd devise proudly. It didn’t look any different than when Lance walked in so he’d take the gremlin’s word for it.

“Good work,” Shiro praised as the two techies collected their stuff. “Let’s head out. The longer we stay here the more likely the garrison will find us.”

“Yeah! Road trip!” Lance exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

“You don’t even know where we’re going. Or why. You missed that entire conversation!” Keith accused. Lance shrugged.

“You say that like I’d have understood the tech talk those two were probably spewing.” Lance waved a lazy hand towards Hunk and Pidge, getting a quiet ‘rude’ before he continued. “It’s best if I just don’t question those things. Plus, I trust fate enough to get us where we needed to go.”

“This isn’t fate,” Keith said flatly. “There’s no such _thing_ as fate.”

Lance felt Blue bristle at Keith’s words like she was personally offended by the red clad teen. Lance smiled as she grumbled to herself, determination to prove Keith wrong flaring up as she began plan how to do it.

“Well Keith,” Lance said. “Tell me that again when we get where we’re going. I have a feeling fate isn’t going to be as easily dismissed as you think.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	4. One more member

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get awkward. Keith get's owned. And Pidge has a new hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Happy last-season-of-voltron day (if that's a thing.) I watched episode one but between how late it is over here and the fact that it kind of pissed me off, I'm going to bed. But i'm posting this now since I kind of got super excited about Adam popping up and may have wrote the entire chapter already. Not that it's very long but eh. Here it is. I meant to explain why he showed up in story during this chapter but that's going to have to wait till later. (i also may not have edited the last few hundred words because it's late and i make bad decision when it's late. that's fact.)
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Lance’s group was just collecting what they’d needed for the small journey when there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze just staring at the door, unsure how to react.

“Um, guys? I don’t think that’s a Jehovah’s witness,” Pidge whispered. “If it is, they deserve some mad props because that’s some serious determination.”

“It’s the Garrison! I know it!” Hunk whispered frantically. “They’ve come for us just like Shiro said!”

“It’s not the Garrison, they wouldn’t have knocked,” Keith reassured, turning towards Lance. “Maybe you’re old man?”

Lance shook his head.

“Doubt it. He left weeks ago.”

Another impatient knock rang through the shack.

“I’m going to answer it.” Keith moved towards the door, hand resting on the hilt of his knife just in case.

“But what if it’s a serial killer?” Hunk questioned. Keith shot him a confused look.

“That knocks?”

“A polite serial killer that knocks before slaughtering the entire household!” Hunk whispered as he dragged himself and Pidge to hide behind the couch.

“I’m not going to let anyone die,” Shiro said, much more serious then the situation called for in Lance’s opinion. “You have my word.”

“See? Shiro will protect us,” Lance said, swatting his friend’s hand as Hunk tried to pull him down alongside him. “We’re safe.”

Keith rolled his eyes as he opened the door. Upon catching sight of the person on the other side, Lance immediately dropped to the floor next to Hunk and Pidge.

“We’re doomed. Shiro can’t save us from that,” Lance stated, now as worried as Hunk looked.

The three of them looked up to see a wide eyed Shiro just staring in shock at the door like he’d seen a ghost.

“Keith Kogane. Takashi Shirogane,” a stern voice called. Shiro straightened up immediately but still had a strange look on his face.

“Oh no, please don’t tell me that-“ Hunk murmured but was soon cut off.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“It is,” Lance said gravely. “It’s Professor Adam.”

“As in the professor who was not-so-secretly dating Shiro and has been pretty tough on students since the Kerberos Mission?” Pidge questioned.

“Yup. I took aviation theory with him. It wasn’t fun.”

Lance turned his attention back to the silent stalemate that was currently playing out over their heads.

“Adam, I-“ Shiro said quietly, loosing whatever he was going to say before it even reached his mouth. Adam, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have that problem.

“Don’t ‘Adam’ me. It won’t help things,” Adam stated, though is tone sounded a little more gentile than before. “You have the Garrison in an uproar after what happened last night. I- _they_ thought you were dead for over a year before you crashed that _alien_ _escape pod_ in the Garrison’s back yard. Then, instead of following protocol to make sure you didn’t have some sort of alien virus or something similar, you fought the doctors and had to be sedated.”

“It was important. They weren’t listening to him!” Keith said, coming to Shiro’s defense before he could even think of one himself.

“And maybe if he hadn’t been acting like a madman, they would have.”

“But-“

“You didn’t exactly make things better, yourself Keith. What were you even thinking blowing up part of the base like you did? Not to mention the multiple wrecks that chase caused involving faculty vehicles.”

“I was _thinking_ that I couldn’t leave Shiro _strapped to a table_!”

“That doesn’t mean you have the right to cause several thousands of dollars in damages with some pipe bombs and that death trap you call a hoverbike.”

Keith muttered something along the lines of ‘it does to me’ that Adam seemed to pointedly ignore.

“And don’t think I forgot about your accomplices.”

“They’re more like hitchhikers.”

“McClain, Gunderson, Garret. Out from behind the couch.”

The three of them hesitated a moment before slowly climbing to heir feet. Pidge cursed under his breath as an unamused Adam sent them all stern looks of disapproval.

“How did you know we were there?” Lance asked.

“That wasn’t exactly the subtlest dive to the floor I’ve seen, McClain,” Adam stated flatly.

“I was talking about Keith’s shack in general but I was kind of curious about that too.” Lance admitted. “Also, why you didn’t bring the rest of the Garrison with you?”

“Shiro all but adopted Keith a few years back. It was the least I could do to keep an eye on the kid for him while he was… gone. Though, I will admit, some days that was easier said than done.” Adam sent Keith an annoyed glair that Keith ignored. “And I didn’t think the Garrison would have exactly convinced the five of you to give yourself up. I had a better chance accomplishing that on my own then anything they would try. They don’t even know I’m here right now.”

“Awfully rebellious for one of the Garrison’s automatons,” Keith said, crossing his arms in defiance.

“Awfully big word for a dropout,” Adam shot back immediately.

“Wow, Hunk, you were right. He really is a serial killer that is slaughtering the entire household. Starting with Keith!” Pidge exclaimed, his expression full of a sadistic glee that Lance could have lived the rest of his life not seeing. “Do Lance next!”

“Hey!”

“Now, if all of you are done,” Adam said, giving Pidge a look. “You need to come back to the Garrison.”

“We can’t,” Shiro stated, speaking up for the first time since his botched attempt at the start. “Not without finding Voltron.”

“Whatever that is can wait.”

“No, it really can’t,” Shiro said, looking much more confident then he had just a second ago. “That’s what I was trying to tell them. What I’m trying to tell _you._ This can’t wait. The Galra, the aliens that took me, they’re coming here. Whatever Voltron is, they want it. And if the Galra want something, they will do anything in their power to take it. Even if they need to destroy the planet to do so.”

Adam’s eyes widened as he stayed silent, letting Shiro continue.

“We have a lead on where it is. We can check it out now in the matter of a few hours and be back before nightfall. After that, yes, I’ll happily go back to the Garrison. But, please, let us do this first.”

Adam stared at him for a good long time, before he sighed, shaking his head.

“Why do you have to be so damn selfless,” he muttered to himself. He looked back at Shiro. “Fine. We can go check out your lead first.”

“ _We?_ Who said you get to come?” Keith demanded.

“That’s enough, Keith,” Shiro said, making his way around the sofa. Keith deflated a little but didn’t say anything. “Adam can come if he wants too.”

“Which I do. I can’t let the five of you go out into the middle of the desert without some sort of responsible adult supervision.”

“I’m eighteen and Shiro’s twenty-five,” Keith stated.

“I said ‘responsible’ adults.”

“But-“ Keith tried to protest but Shiro was already next to him, steering him out the door. He paused as Adam stepped out of their way. But even with the path cleared, he still hesitated.

“It’s…good to see you again, Adam,” Shiro said, shifting around awkwardly. “I wasn’t sure if I would. See you again, that is.”

“Me neither,” Adam admitted. “There’s a lot we’re going to have to talk about but, for now, it’s good to see you again too.”

A small, nervous smile appeared briefly on Shiro’s face before he continued leading Keith outside.

Hunk elbowed Lance, getting the other boy’s attention.

“Did that seem a little…tense, or was it just me?” Hunk whispered, trying to keep his voice low enough so Adam couldn’t hear him.

“No, definitely tense.”

Before we could comment anymore, Pidge had darted over to the professor, looking up at him with stars in his eyes.

“I’ve never had a class with you but you’re already my favorite professor in the entire Garrison,” Pidge stated, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “You’re my hero!”

“Thanks?” He looked a tad uncomfortable with the attention so Lance decided it was best to go save the poor man.

“He’s a sadist. Especially when it comes to verbal take downs,” Lance explained, walking around the couch as he spoke. As he gets to Pidge, he started pushing him out the door. “Just ignore him. That’s what I do.”

“You’re alright with us taking your jeep, right?” Hunk asked, gazing out the window at Shiro and Keith loading stuff into a jeep that hadn’t been there before. “Because I think we’re taking your jeep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	5. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance get's bored, kids get space dads, and Blue gets the attention she deserves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back. So this chapter was going to be a little longer but i really like where this ended so here you go. More to come soon, if my job stays as slow as it's been. Honestly, it took me a bit to figure out how Adam was going to fit into the story but I think i got it now. Yay! I'm actually pretty excited about it and the character arc he's going to have so I can't wait till i actually get to all of that.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

The road trip, in Lance’s opinion, was not as entertaining as it should have been. Everyone kept silent for various reasons, the only sounds being the jeep’s engine and the beeping of Hunk’s devise.

Lance had tried to spend the time questioning Blue as to why Adam didn’t appear in any of the scenes she’d shown him, but she wasn’t giving an answer. Instead she only sent him a smug feeling before flooding his brain with calming emotions as if trying to lull him to sleep. He tried to fight against it but before he could even ask why, he was already out cold and using Hunk as an impromptu pillow.

He was woken up an hour and a half later when the jeep pulled to a stop, unable to travel any farther into the mountains before them. He rubbed his eyes, questioning his lion as to why she felt the need to essentially knock him out like that. She only chuckled, stating that he’d need the rest later on.

They walked through the mountains for another hour, the tense silence still surrounding the group whenever Lance wasn’t actively breaking it.

“Are we there yet?” Lance whined once again, Pidge groaning in annoyance.

“For the last time, no!” Pidge exclaimed, sending a glair back at him.

“We’ve been walking forever! We should be there by now. Or at least reached the edge of the word as a condolence prize.”

“Why don’t you ask fate when we’re ‘destined’ to get there?” Keith jibed. “Maybe then you’ll shut up about the whole thing.”

“You know what, maybe I will!” Lance exclaimed while Blue whispered an amused ‘ _soon’_ in his mind.

“That’s enough you two,” Shiro interrupted. “I’m not going to put up with your bickering for this whole trip.”

“Look what you did, Keith. You’re making him use his parent voice and threaten to turn this car around like we’re ten.”

“My what voice?” Shiro tried to ask, but was ignored by a very offended Keith.

“What _I_ did? You’re the one that keeps asking ‘are we there yet?’ ever two minutes!”

“Yeah well _you’re_ -“

“I said enough,” shiro said, sounding sterner this time around.

“Yes dad,” Lance quipped. Shiro froze at the words, almost choking on air in surprise.

“What?”

“Well you’re acting like a parent so you might as well get referred to as such.”

“I…don’t really think-“

“Oh! I know! We can just call you Space Dad! Because you’re acting like a dad. And you’ve been to space!” Lance exclaimed happily.

“This isn’t going away is it?” Shiro lamented.

“Not a chance, Space dad,” Keith stated. Shiro looked utterly betrayed.

“Not you too!”

“Is he just your guys’ Space Dad or can anyone get in on this?” Hunk questioned, glancing up from his devise with a sly smile.

“Nah, we can share. I’m sure there’s enough Space Dad for everyone.”

“Sweet.”

“Wouldn’t that make Professor Adam our other dad?” Pidge asked. Both adults seemed to stiffen at the question but Lance didn’t think much of it.

“Probably,” Keith said with a shrug. “They’re engaged after all. Or they were. I don’t know what they are considered now.”

“Sweet. Two dads for the price of one. This was the best decision ever,” Lance said with a grin.

“Um, that’s not…we’re not exactly-“ A round of insistent beeping interrupted whatever Shiro was trying to say.

“Uh, guys? I think we’re here,” Hunk said, nodding towards a dark cave that loomed in front of them. “We don’t actually have to go in there, do we?”

“Sorry man. Afraid we do,” Lance said, patting his friend’s shoulder comfortingly. “Best get it over with now.”

Lance took off ahead of the group, trying to keep his excitement in check. He could feel Blue nearby, her unique energy all but thrumming though the cave like a heartbeat. Her enthusiasm pulsing in his mind to match.

“ _It’s time,”_ she whispered with so much unfiltered happiness and pride that tears pricked at Lance’s eyes.

“Yeah, it is,” he whispered back, letting himself enjoy the moment before collecting himself. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and turned his focus on what was in front of him. Mainly the cave, and now, his small adventuring group.

“I’d say this is definitely the right place,” Adam stated, looking at Hunk’s devise which was now beeping in time with Blue’s energy waves. Everyone else was looking around the cave in fascination. Lance wasn’t sure if they were able to feel Blue’s energy like he could but they all looked suitably awed regardless.

“How old do you think these things are?” Pidge asked, touching the wall beside him and bringing Lance’s attention to the cave walls for the first time. They were absolutely covered in ancient carvings depicting a large, box-like lion. Had Lance not known any better, he’d assume the square designs of the cat were just that, design choices. But having seen Blue once before (though quite some time ago,) he could tell they were actually quite accurate.

“I’d say about ten thousand years,” Lance stated, staring at the walls with a small smile on his face. “Give or take.”

“Since when are you a geologist?” Pidge asked incredulously.

“You’d be amazed,” Lance murmured as Blue urged him to touch the carvings. When he questioned why a flurry of images flooded his mind; the walls glowing a vivid blue, part of the tunnel floor breaking apart, and then that new hole leading to her ancient hideaway. Whether they were from her gift or just something she knew, Blue didn’t say. She just wanted him to activate the carvings so she could reunite with her paladin once again.

‘ _Patience,’_ he told her silently, an even better idea coming to mind. He shared it with Blue, making his girl laugh. She gave her approval eagerly.

“Lance, are you coming?” Hunk called. He was standing further in the cave with the rest of the group. They were almost in position, making Lance grin.

“Go on ahead.” Lance waved a hand to shoo them on. “I want to look at the carvings a little longer.”

The group kept walking, Hunk doing so backwards in order to keep talking to Lance. They were so close.

“But why? They’re just weird looking cats,” Hunk said. Blue pouted while Lance reassured her that he didn’t know any better. Hunk would be eating his words soon after all.

‘ _Now,’_ Blue insisted. Lance hesitated.

‘ _Now?’_

_‘Now! Now! Now!’_

Lance grinned, looking at Hunk as he raised his hand towards the wall.

“Well, I think they’re gorgeous.”

As soon as Lance’s hand made contact with the wall carving, it lit up the same brilliant blue his lion had shown him. It quickly spread to every lion carving in the cave, making the group stop right where he needed them to. Things couldn’t have worked out more perfectly.

The others didn’t even have a chance to ask what happened before the floor crumbled underneath them, dropping all five of them a few feet down into the cavern below. Blue’s amusement radiated through their bond as she quickly shared the cartoon-like dog pile she was now witnessing.

Lance laughed as he walked over to the new hole, kneeling down beside it to see his traveling companions.

“Oops. My bad,” he called to them.

“What the hell was that?!” Keith yelled, trying to get loose from his spot fairly low in the dogpile. He wasn’t having much luck with a stunned Shiro sitting on his back.

“Not sure,” Lance said, not completely lying. “I just touched them and this happened.”

“Pidge touched them before you and nothing happen!” Keith shoved Shiro off, leaving him to land on Adam as he stumbled to his feet.

“Must be fate,” Lance said with a shrug.

“It’s not-“ Keith’s complaint abruptly stopped, his eyes locked on something outside of the blue paladin’s sight. The pride Blue was giving off all but told him what had caught Keith’s eye.

Taking that as his cue, Lance carefully dropped down to the cavern below, making sure to avoid landing on those still struggling to get free of the pile. Once down there, he stood next to Keith, nudging him to get his attention.

“You were saying something?” Lance asked, Keith still too stunned to respond, his gaze snapping back and forth between Lance and the lion that sat in front of him. The gears in Keith’s head were spinning rapidly, the blue paladin could almost hear them grinding together trying to come up with an answer. So, he left him to it, turning his attention towards Blue with a large smile spreading across his face.

_‘Hey pretty girl,’_ Lance whispered through their bond. _‘Happy to see me?’_

Blue’s answering purr reverberated through his mind so loud that he swears he could actually hear it.

_‘I’m happy to see you too.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	6. Dibs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets shocked, Blue calls dibs, and Adam gets launched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back. Sorry it took a bit for the new chapter. Been a long couple weeks. I'm hoping i can update my other fics this weekend too but i'm not so sure. I had this chapter pretty much all written out, which is why it's postable right now.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“Woah,” Hunk said in awe, coming to stand next to Lance and Keith. Pidge, Adam, and Shiro soon followed, any complaint they had about the dogpile long forgotten. “Is that Voltron?”

“It looks alien made but Lions are an animal from Earth. It doesn’t make sense for an alien object to be shaped like one,” Adam tried to reason. “I’d say it’s a hoax.”

“Well, I know one way to find out,” Lance said with a grin. He took a step towards his ship only for Keith to snap out of his stupor and grab his arm.

“That thing’s supposed to be a weapon,” he said. “It could be dangerous.”

“I should hope so otherwise it’s not much of a weapon.” Lance grinned cockily at him before turning back towards Blue. “But I don’t think she’s a danger to us.”

“She?” Pidge questioned, but Lance ignored him.

“And how can you possibly know that?”

“It’s just a feeling,” Lance said. Keith didn’t look convinced. “Why don’t you touch the barrier thing first, if you’re that concerned.”

Keith seemed to take that as a personal challenge, his eyes narrowing for a moment before letting go of Lance and marching towards the lion.

“Keith, what are you doing?” Shiro called, but the teen wasn’t to be deterred.

Lance figured nothing would happen if Keith were to touch Blue’s forcefield, but a spark of mischief from Blue told him that he may have miscalculated. As soon as Keith’s hand touched the barrier, a small jolt of electricity sent him stumbling a few feet back and falling onto his ass.

“Ok, she’s not _as_ dangerous to us,” Lance amended. “Still not that bad in comparison.”

“It tried to electrocute me!” Keith scrambled to his feet, looking a little frazzled but otherwise no worse for wear.

“That’s what you get for being rude.”

“How was I being rude?” Keith exclaimed as Lance walked by him to meet his lion once again. “It’s a giant metal lion!”

“Doesn’t mean you can just grab at her force field like that.”

“How else am I supposed to get in?”

Lance stopped just in front of said force field, a cocky grin on his face as he held a loose fist up towards it.

“Maybe you just have to knock.”

Rapping his knuckles twice against the barrier, he didn’t even need to watch as it dissolved with a high-pitched hum. His companions’ eyes grew to the size of saucers, which only made Lance’s smile wider. Keith, in particular, was gaping like a fish, which was more amusing to both he and Blue than it should have been.

Lance opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the creaking of moving metal. He looked up to see Blue pulling himself to her feet, her full height barely fitting in the cave. She placed her front paws on either side of her paladin, then roared.

This was the first time Lance had heard her with his own ears, and as much as he’d dreamed of this moment, he never thought she would be so loud. The cave shook from her voice alone, causing small rocks and pebbles to come loose from the ceiling. His companions scrambled several steps back, Shiro quickly moving in front of Pidge and Hunk like they needed protecting.

Lance was certain they weren’t hearing her like he was, otherwise they would know they were safe. All they heard was an aggressive roar, while Lance heard so much more.

It was a shout of celebration. Of finally being free of the ten thousand year long wait she had endured.

It was an announcement of arrival. That Voltron was back and those that opposed them should run while they still can.

More importantly, it was a declaration of ownership. Telling all that could hear that this boy at her feet was her paladin, daring anyone to try and take him from her.

As soon as she stopped a vision of the five mechanical lions combining into Voltron. It was old footage, back from when Papa Allot had been her paladin, maybe even before. And it was being shared with everyone before her. He could feel each of them present at the edge of his mind before the vision faded and they were gone.

The cave was startlingly quiet for a long moment, no one daring to speak.

“Everyone saw that too, right? The robot cats turning into a giant robot?” Hunk asked tentatively. “That was Voltron, the robot thing. And this is a part of it.”

“It certainly looks like it,” Shiro said staring at the Blue lion with a weary look on his face.

“Is anyone else going to question how five ships can turn into one? Let alone how a giant ship like that could possibly be piloted. It should be impossible,” Adam said, looking flustered.

“Not as impossible as you think,” Lance told him, looking back at Blue.

She purred back audibly, lowering her head to rest on the ground next to him and opening her mouth to let him inside.

“Lance, I can see what you’re thinking,” Adam stated, drawing his attention from Blue. “But you can’t. We have to get back to the Garrison and tell them about-“

“Dibs,” Lance said, already walking into Blue’s mouth.

“Lance, no,” Adam tried again. Lance grinned.

“Lance yes!” Lance disappeared into the lion, effectively ending the conversation. Once they could no longer see him, he slowed down his pace so to look around Blue’s interior for the first time. It was large, much larger than he thought it should be judging from the exterior. There was a small, barely noticeable, hum of her machinery that felt almost comfortingly familiar despite never having heard it before.

The back was mostly empty, making his footsteps echo through the haul. There was a small bunk and bathroom area on one side and some sort of open pod on the other.

On the bunk was a set of futuristic armor that immediately caught his eye. He walked over, picking up the dented and scratched helmet, holding it up in front of his face.

“This was my grandfather’s, wasn’t it?” Lance asked quietly. Blue hummed in agreement. “And now it’s mine.”

Blue purred, bringing a small smile to Lance’s face.

“We’ll just have to fix it up when we get to your home.”

_‘Our home_ ,’ Blue insisted. Lance placed the helmet under his arm and headed farther into his lion.

“We’ll have to see about that.”

Lance reached the cockpit, taking a moment to look around the spacious, blue lit interior before taking a seat in the pilot seat she held out for him.

“Lance!” Keith called as angry footsteps made their way through the cargo hold. “You can’t call dibs on an alien space ship!”

Lance went to comment back but was interrupted by Blue yanking the chair forward into position. Lance sat there for a moment, reorienting himself before carefully placing the helmet on top the side panel.

Keith appeared then, looking furious while several, more hesitant sets of footsteps echoed through the lion. Keith stopped abruptly upon entering the room. Lance watched him over his shoulder as Keith eyes scanned the room before locking onto the other boy.

“Get out of the chair,” Keith said with a frown.

“No.”

“Lance, get out of the chair.”

“Still no,” Lance said, his voice taking on a sing song quality to it.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing but you will be getting out of that chair if I have to pull you out of it.”

Blue responded before Lance could with a seat belt shooting out of the chair and latching around her paladin’s waist. A challenging growl filled the cockpit like she was telling him to try it.

“If I can’t call dibs on a lion, can the lion call dibs on me? Because I think she already did.”

“A robot lion can’t call dibs on a person.”

“You tell her that.”

“Guys! Have you seen all this tech? It’s amazing!” Pidge exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as he entered the cockpit. The other three followed less enthusiastically. “I’m in love.”

“Nope, sorry. You can’t have her. I called dibs.” Lance tapped some of the controls, quietly running some diagnostics to prepare for takeoff. As annoying as those Altean lessons had been when he was little, being able to read the control panels himself now was worth it. “Get your own lion.”

“Wait, is that going to be a thing we’re doing?” Hunk asked, his voice sounding concerned. “There are five of them so are we going to find them all?”

“I call the green one!” Pidge exclaimed.

“No one’s getting any of them,” Adam stated. “We’re going back to the Garrison and letting them decide what to do with all this.”

“Buzzkill,” Pidge muttered. “Keep it up and you won’t be my favorite anymore.”

“Oh no, whatever will I to do,” Adam said with the flattest voice Lance had ever heard.

“Nevermind, you’re safe. For now.”

Lance chuckled, tapping a few more buttons as he scanned through results of the diagnostics. Which actually weren’t bad. After ten thousand years of just sitting around, he would have thought something would have went wrong, but everything was still in the green. Needless to say, he was pretty impressed.

“And Lance, stop pressing random buttons,” Adam called. “Who knows what you’re-“

Blue chose this moment to snap her jaw shut and stand up once again, jostling the crowd standing behind her pilot.

“Lance!”

“I didn’t do it,” Lance said quickly, putting his hands up in the air to show it while Blue shifted her paws back and forth like she was testing the movements. “See? No hands.”

“Don’t let go now!” Keith cried.

“Oh God, we’re going to die, aren’t we?” Hunk asked, sounding panicked.

“Undoubtably.”

“Pidge, don’t tell him that,” Shiro scolded.

“Would you rather I lie?”

“Yes.”

“Fine then, I’m sure that Lance, the worst fighter pilot in the garrison, can definitely fly an alien space ship safely even without being able to read the control panels.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Hunk whined.

“Are you kidding? I was born for this!” Lance took the joysticks in his hands, sending a confident grin back at his group before taking off.

His passengers screamed as Blue burst her way out of her ancient hiding spot. She hovered in the sky for a moment before shooting though the air in celebratory barrel rolls. Those not strapped into the pilot seat were forced to grab hold of something or get launched into the back of the ship. As it was, the only one that ended up taking the sudden reverse tour was Adam.

Lance looked up in time to see him tumble clumsily out of the cockpit, leaving only the five people Blue had shown him the night before.

_‘Is this why I didn’t see Adam here earlier? Because you launched him?’_

Blue answered with a smug purr that told him everything he wanted to know. She seemed very satisfied by the results of her mid-air celebration, as if it was a small retaliation for the older pilot calling her and her siblings impossible.

“You’re the worst pilot ever!” Keith yelled, clinging to his armrest. Lance laughed loudly, Blue’s happiness and excitement making him giddy.

“You haven’t seen anything yet!” He replied, straightening Blue out and taking control of her flight. That was enough playing around. They had places to be and it sure as hell wasn’t the Garrison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	7. Hellfire and Bleach bubbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets a bath, Pidge becomes a backpack, and Lance is shocked speechless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with a new chapter. It's a little longer than normal b/c there was really no good way to break this up. I doubt any of will be complaining though lol. Anyways, i really had fun with this chapter. A lot of little stuff happening that kept me very entertained at work. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Lance stared up at the looming building in front of them, his excitement growing thin, leaving him nervous.

This was the Castle Papa Allot used to talk about, but it seemed bigger than he thought it would be. Grander. Somehow more intimidating. And Lance wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

Blue gave him a mental nudge towards the door, reassurance flowing through their bond.

_‘Go_ ,’ she insisted gently. _‘You’ll be fine.’_

_‘Do you_ know _this or are you just trying to make me feel better?’_

She purred in amusement but didn’t answer the question.

_‘Go.’_

_‘I’m going, I’m going,’_ Lance chuckled, trying to shake his nerves.

“So…do we have to go in there too or can we just go home at this point?” Hunk asked, glancing around at everyone when no one answered. “Because I vote for the second one. We came. We saw. We found nothing really. So we can go home now. Right? Right?”

“Don’t think so, man.” Lance patted Hunk on the shoulder comfortingly. “My pretty girl, Blue, is pretty insistent we go inside.”

“If we fall through another floor again, I’m blaming you.”

“Can we just get this over with,” Adam begged, rubbing his shoulder from whatever rough landing he experienced in the back. “Whatever _this_ is.”

“Agreed.” Shiro glanced at Adam for what had to be the tenth time since they landed about two minutes ago. Lance thought his concern for a other pilot was a little overkill but that wasn’t any of his business.

“I say Lance goes first,” Pidge suggested. “The floors don’t collapse when he goes first.”

“Does it look like the floors are going to collapse to you?” Lance gestured to the giant, shiny building with an annoyed frown.

“You never know. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Fine, come on you lot. Let your brave pilot, Lance, lead you through the big scary castle.”

“I regret my decision.”

“What did you expect?” Keith asked Pidge who shrugged.

Despite their complaints, all five followed Lance into the castle, each looking more nervous than Lance felt. Though that didn’t really come as a surprise since none of them had Blue telling them everything was going to be fine.

They entered the open doorway to find a fairly small room that didn’t quite fit with how grand the entrance was. The walls were a clean white color with a bunch of luminescence, blue line decals that lit up the otherwise empty space.

“Ok? What’s the deal with-“ Whatever Pidge was going to ask was cut off by the main door slamming shut behind them.

“Oh no. That’s-that’s not good. Not good at all,” Hunk muttered, inching closer to Shiro. “This place is haunted, isn’t it?”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts, Hunk,” Pidge stated, hovering close to Adam despite his brave words.

They probably would have continued but a disembodied voice echoed through the room.

_“Scanning,”_ the slightly robotic voice said in perfect Altean. Lance blinked, curious to what it possibly could be scanning in the empty room. Whatever it was, he figured it was nothing to worry about. Unfortunately the others didn’t quite get the same vibe from the voice.

“They’re alien ghosts,” Keith murmured in awe.

“Dude, we’re in space. Everything’s alien out here. Even _you’re_ an Alien out here,” Lance pointed out as several small lasers started scanning the room’s inhabitance, ultimately answering his question. Everyone else was so distracted by the scans that they missed Keith’s slightly panicked glair towards the blue paladin.

“No more than you,” he whispered back furiously.

“Well technically-“

_“Scan complete,”_ the voice said as the lasers faded. A small control panel lit up, scrolling through the results so quickly that Lance was only able to pick up a few phrases like ‘galra hybrid,’ ‘humans,’ and ‘paladin descendant’ before it seemed to go through a break down of what it learned about each of them. Unfortunately, even his Altean lessons weren’t enough for Lance to understand that.

“Guys? What was that about?” Pidge questioned, now completely hanging off Adam’s arm, much to the older man’s displeasure.

“Maybe it was a scan of some sort?” Shiro offered.

“Scan for what?”

_‘Beginning decontamination process,’_ the voice said, Lance’s eyes widened.

“Wait, what?”

And then the room filled with bubbles.

-

Once the decontamination was complete, their group was left cleaner than they ever were before. It felt like every single piece of dirt that Lance so much as thought about touching had been scrubbed off of his person. Everyone else looked to be the same level of clean; Shiro’s alien arm sparkled, Keith’s jacket was a lot brighter of a red than Lance first thought, and Adam’s hair was…brown? It was almost blond when we entered the room but now it was several shades darker.

“Um…what happened to your hair?” Lance asked, succeeding in getting his attention despite the gremlin clinging despirately to the older pilot’s back.

“What’s wrong with it?” Adam looked concerned, reaching up to touch it with the arm Pidge didn’t have pinned to his side.

“It’s darker.”

“Adam, your hair dye washed out,” Shiro pointed out awkwardly.

“Shit,” Adam held out a piece of his hair, trying to get a look at it. “What the hell was in that soap?”

“Hellfire and bleach,” Pidge stated, still looking traumatized by the unexpected bubble assault. “It’s the only explanation.”

“For once, I agree,” Adam said, frowning at the lock of hair he finally caught sight of. “I liked that color.”

As they were contemplating how that was possible the wall opposite the main entrance opened up to reveal a large, similarly colored hallway.

“ _Please report to the medbay for vaccine updates,”_ the voice said once again as the room’s light dimmed, indicating the group should leave.

“What is it saying!” Hunk said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “We don’t speak alien!”

“Probably that we should leave this room and go somewhere else. Probably the medbay to make sure we aren’t carrying anything detrimental to their species,” Lance said, shrugging at the odd stares he was getting. “What? That’s what the garrison was trying to do. Why would aliens be any different?”

“I don’t know, maybe because they’re _aliens_!” Keith exclaimed.

“Just because they’re a different species doesn’t mean they would risk their health by letting random strangers into their house without making sure they’re safe.”

“Well we don’t know where the medbay is so it really doesn’t matter,” Pidge pointed out. “I say we follow the hallway until it ends and go from there.”

“Sounds good to me, let’s get lost!” Lance smiled, making Keith just shake his head.

“Can you let go now?” Adam asked as they stepped into the hallway.

“And risk almost drowning in that soap again? I think not!” Pidge answered, not giving any indication that he was going to get down anytime soon.

“I highly doubt they’re going to flood their own hallway with bubbles,” Adam tried to reason but Pidge wasn’t having it.

“We didn’t think they were going to flood their foyer either but it happened. I’m not taking any chances.”

Adam sighed, shaking his head in defeat.

“If you’re going to stay then at least shift to my back, you’re hurting my shoulder.”

“Oops, sorry!” Pidge moved himself so he was in more of a normal piggyback position. Adam even grudgingly looped his arms under the smaller guy’s legs so he wouldn’t fall.

The group was wandering down the hallway for quite some time after that, occasionally glancing in the vacant rooms before continuing. No one really talked except to make small, hushed comments about the rooms. Despite having no quarrels with making noise in the decontamination chamber, the stillness of the hallway made them uneasy and prompted whispers or, more often then not, just plain silence.

It felt like a graveyard to Lance, especially after growing up on stories about the place. The Castle Papa Allot spoke of was always busy with people running around both during the day and night cycles. But the version Lance was seeing now had none of that liveliness. It was just empty and cold. And Lance didn’t like it.

Blue purred, trying to ease his discomfort. It was clear she wasn’t a big fan of the atmosphere either, but she wasn’t mourning the loss like he thought she would.

_‘It won’t be like this for long,”_ she reassured, showing him a few still images of large rooms full of various aliens. If he looked closely, he could see the six of them scattered among them, all dressed in armor of various colors. Lance smiled at the sight.

_‘Good, I don’t like it this quiet.’_ Lance would have said more but his train of thought was cut off by someone grabbing his hood and dragging him back behind the group. It wasn’t until he was several yards behind his companions, that he finally looked back to find an annoyed Keith attached to his jacket.

“Can I help you?” Lance said, keeping his voice quiet.

“What were they saying?” Keith asked, as blunt as ever. Which left Lance little to go on as he tried to figure out what he was talking about.

“Nothing?” Lance glanced at the older boy with a frown. “No one’s said anything since we saw that mess hall five minutes ago. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Not us, _them_ ,” Keith insisted, earning another odd look from Lance. “The alien ghosts that flooded their foyer.”

“You guys aren’t going to get over that, are you?”

“What did they say?”

“Why are you asking me? According to you lot, I’m the idiot of the group.” Lance detangled Keith’s hand from his hood so he could straighten his jacket. “If anyone knows, it’s probably not me.”

“You understood them. I could tell.”

Lance’s hands paused as he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“And how would you know that?”

“You weren’t as panicked as the rest of us once they started talking.”

“Maybe I’m just not as afraid of a bath as the rest of you,” Lance replied, his hands coming to rest on his hips in a cocky pose.

“And you responded to it before the bubbles appeared.”

“Can’t hurt to be nice.”

“Lance, what did the alien ghosts say?”

“First of all, they weren’t ‘alien ghosts.’ If any of you were listening, you’d have been able to tell it was a robotic recording for the decontamination chamber,” Lance corrected, his voice barely a whisper to keep from being overheard. “Second, it was just standard robotic stuff like ‘scanning’ and ‘beginning decontamination.’ Oh, and it said we should go to the medbay for vaccination updates but we don’t know where that is so there’s really no use worrying about it now.”

“So you did understand them,” Keith said. Lance gave him a flat look. “How?”

“You know how my grandfather isn’t from Earth?” Lance asked. Keith nodded. “He’s from here. Not this planet particularly. His was destroyed ages ago. But the people that built this castle, built the lions, those were his people.”

“Your grandfather built this?”

“No, he wasn’t even born yet when this was built. He did live here for a while though.”

“Wait, how old is this place?”

“Almost eleven thousand years. Though it’s been empty for about ten thousand of those years.”

“How could he have lived here if it’s been empty for that long? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does if you stop thinking so hard on it.” Lance cracked a smile at Keith’s frown. “Shouldn’t be that difficult for you.”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I. Mostly,” Lance said. When Keith didn’t respond he sighed. “Look, I’ll explain a little later. It’s kind of a long story with a lot of information that I probably can’t get through with the end of the hallway already in sight.”

“Lance nodded towards the set of double doors that were steadily growing closer. Keith frowned at them as if they had personally offended him.

“Fine, but as soon as all this is over, we’re sitting down and you’re explaining everything.”

“It’s a date,” Lance replied with a wink, leaving Keith speechless. “Then, while we’re dishing out family secrets, maybe you could show me what that watch keeps hidden. Just so we’re on the same page.”

“Not a chance,” Keith replied, snapping out of his stupor.

“Why not? You show me yours and I’ll show you mine. That sounds fair, right?”

“This is a horrible time to tune into a conversation,” Pidge stated flatly, getting the boy’s attention easily. They had stopped in front of the doors to wait for their two remaining members, both of which hadn’t noticed until it was too late. “The worst, in fact. Almost makes me want to see if that hellfire/bleach soap could scrub it from my mind.”

“I was talking about the watches!” Lance exclaimed, his face heating up under Shiro’s disapproving glair.

“That’s not what it sounded like!” Pidge all but sang with a sit eating grin on his face.

“You’re a little pervert, you know that?”

“I’m not the one trying to get into my rival’s pants.”

“I’m not- that wasn’t- It’s not like that! Tell them Keith!”

Lance looked back for help, but quickly realized he would get none from the other boy. Keith looked stunned, his face so red that he could easily be replaced by a large tomato in a wig and no one would notice.

“You’re useless,” Lance groaned, pushing himself to the front of the group to open the door. “I should have left you all in the lion. It would have been a lot less annoying.”

Blue rumbled at him, making it clear that she was not a jail cell for ‘annoying people.’

_‘I’d just be collecting all my annoyances in one place. With you, my greatest annoyance of all,’_ he replied as Blue huffed in protest. _‘Don’t think I didn’t notice how amused you were at my expense. You were practically purring.’_

The door slid open then, revealing a large room full of multiple control panels taking up half of it. The other half remained oddly empty except for some circular designs in the floor. The lights clicked on as they entered, causing everything else in the room quickly followed suit. A few seconds later all the control panels were powered on ready for use.

“So…do you think _this_ is the medbay?” Hunk inquired.

“A definite maybe,” Pidge agreed, dropping himself off Adam’s back to look of one the closer panels. “But I can say for sure, that this tech is just as awesome as the lion’s! Light years past anything the Garrison has come up with.”

“Kind of obvious,” Lance replied, peaking over his shoulder. “We don’t have giant metal lions after all.”

As they examined it, Altean words flashed across the top of the panel reading _“cryo tubes one and three now releasing.”_ Lance didn’t have a chance to say anything before two of the circular designs opened up holes in the floor so a pair of pods could be brought out of them.

“Umm…what are those?” Hunk asked, eyeing the pods suspiciously.

“Maybe they’re Keith’s alien ghosts,” Pidged teased as Lance quietly made his way around the control panels to stand in front of them.

“You may not be wrong,” Lance murmured, trying to look past the frost on the window of the pod. He had barely caught sight of a gold circulate when the pod opened, steam pouring out into his face.

Everything happened fairly quick after that. One moment he was instinctually covering his face, the next he had accidentally caught whoever had been residing in the pod.

_“Father!”_ the figure gasped urgently in Altean, looking past Lance to scan the room.

Lance couldn’t help but be fascinated by the woman he was keeping from falling to the floor. She looked about his age with long, curly white hair and dark skin similar to his own. She was gorgeous, that was for certain, but what truly got his attention was that she was Altean.

Lance had never seen another Altean other than his grandfather and was a little shocked to be coming face to face with another, even under such strange circumstances. Needless to say, he was speechless.

When she didn’t find who she was looking for, she turned her focus to Lance.

With a start, the blue paladin realized exactly who he had in his arms. Technically the circlet should have given it away, but Lance’s brain was working a little slow at the moment. Afterall, it’s not every day that you end up off planet, meeting the very princess your grandfather used to tell you stories about.

His grandfather practically grew up with her. They were often found causing trouble together despite he being a few years older than her. Papa Allot said that she was almost like a little sister to him despite the only blood they shared being several generations back.

Papa Allot had a lot of respect for her, which was still obvious if only from the fond smile he’d get while speaking about her. He had even coached Lance in the proper way to great the princess, wanting to make sure his grandson made a good impression. It was a very proper introduction that, he had hoped, would explain the situation better than anything else. Lance knew it inside and out, and could even recite it in his sleep.

He was trying to decide whether now was a good time for it when the princess’s face turned to a frown.

_“Let me go Allot,”_ she said, shoving herself free of Lance’s grasp. _“I must find my father.”_

Lance froze, whatever he was going to say getting stuck in his throat.

Honestly, Lance didn’t know what he expected this first meeting would be like, but whatever he thought it was, it hadn’t involved being mistaken for his grandfather. It would have been an easy fix. All he needed to do was explain that he was not who she thought and then go though his introduction. But the look she was giving him as she realized her mistake, all but glued his tongue to the roof of his mouth.

_“You’re not the blue paladin. Who are you and why are you in my castle?”_

“Excuse me, miss pretty lady, we, uh, can’t understand you,” Hunk asked after a long, awkward pause from the group. “You don’t happen to speak English, do you? Or have some sort of translator?”

The princess stared at them for a long moment before swiftly tapping a few buttons a on a nearby control panel.

_“Translator on,”_ a robot voice said as she turned towards the group once again.

“The translator is on so you should understand me,” she said, straightening up to her full height. “Now explain what you six are doing in my castle. And where is the blue paladin? Allot should have been the only one permitted to open the castle doors.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we don’t know anyone called Allot,” Shiro answered.

“And we don’t know anything about a blue paladin either,” Pidge pointed out.

“That’s impossible. My father said that Blue would bring Allot here when it was safe. He wouldn’t have lied about that.”

“So this Blue paladin was supposed to bring this guy named Allot? Am I getting this right?” Hunk asked. The princess frowned.

“No, Allot _is_ the Blue paladin, his lion would have brought him here.”

“Oh, by ‘blue paladin’ you mean the pilot of the blue lion. That makes sense.”

“The only person that piloted that lion recently is Lance.” Adam motioned towards Lance, making the boy tense. “And we almost died as a result.”

“You mean _you_ almost died. The rest of us were fine,” Pidge corrected. “Terrified, but fine.”

“Does that mean Lance is now this blue paladin?”

The princess’s eyes turned back to Lance as if she was judging him.

“No,” she answered curtly. “Allot is the blue paladin. I don’t know what’s going on here but that fact hasn’t changed. He may have piloted her but he is not her paladin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	8. Concerned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance concerns people, Allura gets contradicted, and Pidge plans retaliations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with a new chapter. It's a little shorter than normal, but i have reasons for that. Which will become evident next chapter. So, until then here you go!
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Lance didn’t know what to say to that. So, instead he stayed silent. Even as a second, older Altean was released from a different pod and tried to, unsuccessfully, fight him. After the meeting with the princess, he just didn’t feel like joining the man in is shenanigans. In fact, he just felt empty, like all the excitement that had been building up just vanished before he had a chance to replace it with something else. She had dismissed him, just like that. He hadn’t even been given the chance to defend himself, or at least explain before she turned away, dead set on ignoring his very existence.

Blue purred gently reminding him of the truth. She chose him and no matter what the princess said, it wouldn’t change her mind.

_‘But you could have kept Papa Allot. He was experienced as your paladin. He would know how all this works and everything,’_ Lance told her, vaguely aware of his group introducing themselves to the two Alteans. _‘She probably would have been happier with him here instead.’_

_‘I could have,’_ Blue relented, _‘But I didn’t. I waited for you. You’re important.’_

_‘How am I important to all of this?’_

_‘You’ll see,’_ Blue purred, making her amusement clear.

_‘But…’_

Blue shushed him before he could continue, instead pointing his attention to Keith. The older boy was ignoring whatever conversation the others were having in favor of watching Lance with a scowl.

_‘Why is he glairing at me like I just kicked his dog?”_

_‘He’s Concerned?’_ Blue offered, making Lance scoff.

_‘That’s not a look of concern.’_

_‘Stuffy one’s concerned too.’_

_‘Stuffy one?’_

Blue offered a not very flattering picture of Adam.

_‘Unbelieving stuffy one that tumbles well.’_

_‘His name is Adam. I know you know that because_ I _know it.’_

_‘Stuffy one must earn my respect before I use his name.’_

Lance shook his head at his lion’s antics, glancing over at the pilot in question.

_‘And why would he be concerned?’_

“Are you alright?” Adam’s voice said, making Lance jump. The older pilot had come up beside him at some point while Blue was being dodging his questions. “On the way here, we couldn’t pay you to stop talking but now you’re oddly silent.”

“Of course that’s it,” Lance muttered to himself. Adam raised an eyebrow, making Lance sigh.

“It’s nothing. Really. I’m fine.”

“That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

“Ok, it’s the princess. She’s just…”

“If you say ‘so gorgeous that it left you speechless’ I’m never showing concern for your well-being again.”

“I wouldn’t have said that!”

“I had you in my class for an entire semester. You would have said that and it would have been one of your better pickup lines.”

“Ow. Thanks for the vote of confidence. But no that would be just…weird.” Lance glanced at the princess in question, trying to figure out exactly how to phrase it. “She’s just…not what I expected.”

“You expecting something?”

“It’s a long story. Like very long.”

“How long?” Adam asked warily.”

“I’d say, chronologically, it’s about-“

“Ten thousand years!” The princess exclaimed, getting both pilots’ attention. “We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years.”

“Oh dear, well, that’s not exactly ideal. But we-“ Coran tried to say but Allura didn’t let him continue.

“Not ideal? Everyone we know, everyone we _knew_ is dead!”

“Not necessarily. Allot was placed in cryo as well. He could still be alive.”

“Allot was supposed to wake us. It has become increasingly clear that he neglected his duty and abandoned us. If he is not dead then he might as well be as far as I am concerned.”

“How could you say that?” Lance snapped, no longer able to keep quiet. It was one thing to speak bad about him, but he couldn’t just sit there and let her do the same to his grandfather. Especially without him being around right now to defend himself. “You don’t know what happened. Maybe something went wrong and he couldn’t make it. Maybe he was injured or sick or something. Or, here’s a thought, maybe his lion could have let him out early and refused to take him back here for whatever strange reason she had.”

“That is no reason to abandon us like he did,” She retorted, her eyes narrowing at Lance.

“He didn’t abandon you!” Lance exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

“And how would _you_ know that?”

Lance stared at her for a long moment. Once again, he found that this would be a great time to tell her the truth. He could almost see the surprised expression on her face when he answered her question in fluent Altean, maybe even going so far as turning off his watch for added shock value. But in the end, he decided against it. He wasn’t exactly sure why, to be honest. Maybe it was out of spite, or just fear of how she’d react. All he knew was that it felt wrong to tell her now, and Lance had learned long ago never to ignore his gut feelings.

“Well? How would you, an alien who knows nothing about him, know?” Allura asked, only making him more confident in his decision.

“I wouldn’t. But I know Blue, and she’d never choose a paladin as cowardly as you are portraying him to be.”

“You know nothing about the Blue Lion.”

“I know more than you do,” Lance retorted, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards. “I’ve piloted her. I’ve _talked_ with her. She’s a sweet girl who would _never_ abandon her family or her duty. Any paladin of hers would be the same, which is probably why she chose me as her new one.”

“You are not her paladin.”

“Take that up with Blue” Lance said. Allura frowned at him, readying another argument but Lance was done. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I forgot something in _my_ lion.”

-

“I messed up. I messed up. I messed up,” Lance chanted, pacing up and down Blue’s cargo hold. She seemed amused by this but otherwise kept silent. “What was I _thinking?_ She’s going to hate me now. Especially once she finds out I have been lying to her. This is a mess!”

_‘Not lying,’_ Blue pipped up.

“I might as well be. She’s going to be pissed regardless of whether it’s a flat out lie or just a lie of omission.”

_‘You did good.’_

“How can this be good! I had a script! I should have followed it like I was supposed to! Instead all I did was insult her and challenge her authority in front of everyone. Which I _definitely_ shouldn’t have done.” Lance spun on his heals, starting back in the opposite direction.

_‘It will be fine.’_

“You know, this vague ‘this will be fine’ statements you keep making are getting kind of old.”

_‘It’s the truth.’_

“Yeah, well it doesn’t make me feel any better,” Lance grumbled, dropping onto the cot with a frown. Blue purred at him, making the entire lion vibrate with the soothing sound. Despite all his various concerns, it was making him relax.

“That’s cheating,” he accused softly. Blue chuckled lightly before continuing the noise.

Lance had the sneaking suspicion that she was trying to lull him back to sleep. She probably would have succeeded if a loud chime hadn’t interrupted her, indicating someone was trying to contact him.

With a sigh, Lance headed to the cockpit as Blue put the call through on the monitor.

“Lance! This place is amazing!” Pidge exclaimed as soon as he appeared on the screen, not giving him a chance to say hello.

“So you’ve said,” Lance replied, settling down into the chair with a smirk.

“It’s even better than I thought!” Pidge said with a grin. “You know we’re all getting lions too! Well, except Adam. She said he wasn’t ‘compatible the way he is now.’ Which is kind of stupid in my opinion. Adam and Shiro are the only certified pilots among us and she just tosses one of them aside? Not cool.”

“What lion are you getting?” Lance asked, leaning back to get comfortable.

“Green. Of course. I told you I called dibs.”

“She’s a good fit for you. Small yet intimidating.”

“And don’t you forget it!” Pidge waved a finger at him half threateningly. “Oh yeah, the whole reason I called you was to let you know that you’re taking Hunk to fetch his lion. Which is Yellow, by the way. Shiro and Adam are taking me in a shuttle to get Green. And we still haven’t found Red so Keith’s waiting at the castle.”

“Why do you get to go on a field trip with both space dads? Shouldn’t Adam stay behind with Keith?”

“And risk Keith killing my favorite space parent? No, not a chance.” Pidge shook his head. “Plus, you never know, a little time alone might do those two some good.”

“They’re not alone if you’re with them.”

Pidge stuck out his tongue the monitor instead of answering properly.

“Anyways, I should probably let you go. We’re going to go get our new armor, just in case the planets we’re going to aren’t as peaceful as they were ten thousand years ago,” Pidge explained. He looked off screen for a moment before leaning closer so the others couldn’t hear him. “You should put yours on too. If only to piss off the princess. She was trying to tell us you don’t get one but that’s even stupider than not assigning Adam a lion.”

“How do you know I have armor.”

“It wasn’t exactly hidden.” Pidge rolled his eyes. “So, suit up and head back here, will you? I _need_ to see the look on her face when she sees you. I wonder if the armor can record stuff because I’d kill to have that footage for later.”

“If you figure it out in time, send a cop to me.”

“Will do,” Pidge said with a grin. He snapped off a lazy salute, saying a quick ‘later’ before logging off.

“It looks like it’s time to fetch your siblings,” Lance said. Blue purred, excitement making itself known through their bond once again. “Yeah, I’d be excited too.”

Climbing to his feet, Lance stretched briefly before picking up the helmet that was somehow still where he left it earlier.

“Well girl, I suppose I should see how I look in this suit. I’m going to be wearing it a lot so it better be good.”

_‘Very handsome,’_ Blue assured.

“Hey, no spoilers. I haven’t even tried it on yet.”

_‘All the spoilers!’_ Blue exclaimed happily.

“Does that mean you’ll finally tell me who my mysterious ‘soulmate’ is that you promised I have?”

Blue paused for a moment.

_‘Some of the spoilers!’_ Blue amended with the same level of excitement as before.

Lance laughed, tucking his helmet under his arm and heading back to where the rest of the armor was stored.

“That’s what I thought.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	9. Who Get's What

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura gets corrected, Adam gets a suit, and Lance makes an entrance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with a new chapter with you all. You have no idea how much all your comments mean to me! Honestly, i didn't expect to get as many as I did. So Thank You! You all are fantastic!
> 
> In other news, i'm really excited about this chapter. I had so much fun writing in Adam's POV, you have no idea. That's probably why it turned out to be over 3,000 words long. : )
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

-Adam-

Adam watched as Lance exited the room, leaving everyone speechless. Well, almost everyone.

“The nerve of that boy!” Princess Allura exclaimed soon after the door shut. “How dare he speak to me like that!”

“Maybe he just doesn’t know who you are,” Coran offered in an attempt to help. “He wasn’t exactly paying attention to our introductions after all.”

“That is no excuse. He has no right to contradict me in such a manor.”

“No, no he didn’t. But you have to admit, his argument was quite sound.”

“He is not the Blue Paladin. That title is Allot’s and Allot’s alone, regardless of how I feel about the man right now.”

“If the Blue Lion chose the boy then he is her paladin, denying it will be of no use, especially the way the galaxy looks at the moment.” Coran motioned towards the mostly Galra infested map in front of them. “We don’t have time to find out what happened to Allot. We need Voltron assembled now. And if Blue, who is notoriously picky about her paladins, is letting him be hers, then who are you to stop them?”

“Their princess.”

“That has nothing to do with it. Blue has obviously made her choice and no amount of titles are going to convince her to change it.”

“I suppose you may be right,” Allura said grudgingly. Though to Adam, she didn’t look very convinced. “But we have more important things to worry about than fighting over the one lion that’s in operation.”

“Right you are!” Coran said, jumping right back into his chipper attitude like he never left it. “Let’s find the lions and get these young wiper snappers all set up as paladins.”

“Yes!” Pidge exclaimed, throwing her fists in the air. “I call Green!”

“I think that can be arranged,” Coran answered with a conspiratorial wink.

“No,” Adam interrupted before they could continue on. “I’m sorry but none of us came here to pilot your war machines.”

“They aren’t ‘war machines.’ They’re protectors of our universe. They were created to insure peace, not cause destruction.”

“I don’t care what pretty names you call them by. We aren’t here to pilot them.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Someone dressed in blue kidnapped us,” Pidge answered with a shrug. “His lion may have helped.”

Allura’s eyes narrowed slightly at the shorter boy as he grinned back.

“My point is,” Adam said, getting their attention once again. “We never meant to come here. We were only supposed to check out an energy signature before heading back. Not get taken who knows how many light years away to an alien planet to fight a war we have no business being a part of.”

“But don’t we?” Shiro asked. Adam glanced over at him, finding the very familiar, stubborn expression on his face. He really hated that expression because it meant Shiro had made up his mind about something and there was nothing Adam could say to change it. Not that he wouldn’t try. “If the Galra are trying to take over the galaxy, I’d say it _is_ our business to stop them if we have the power to do so.”

“It has nothing to do with us. Or Earth for that matter,” Adam answered sternly, but Shiro wasn’t backing down.

“Yes, it does. We’re a part of the galaxy. Even if it’s not Earth’s problem right now, it will be sooner or later. And I doubt we would have the ability to stop them when it does. At least with the Alteans and their technology we have a chance to keep them from Earth as well as free other planets they have already taken.”

“Shiro, this isn’t-“

“I’ve seen what they can do. And though I don’t remember all of it, I remember enough to know I _don’t_ want that happening to our home.” Shiro gave him a pleading look that made Adam struggle to hold onto what little ground he had left. “Please, Adam, we joined the Garrison for this exact reason, to protect Earth. We can do that so much better right here than we ever could back home.”

Adam sighed, knowing he was defeated. He just couldn’t say no to that face. Or that argument, he guessed. But it was mostly that puppy dog face, though he’d never admit it to anyone but himself.

“Fine, I’ll help,” Adam relented, earning a small smile from Shiro that he pretended didn’t make his heart skip.

“Thank you.”

“Yes! Let’s do this thing!” Pidge exclaimed, bringing Adam’s attention to another reason he had been reluctant to stay.

“I’ll help, but what about them?” Adam motioned towards Hunk, Pidge, and Keith, ignoring the warning looks the last two sent him. “They’re just kids.”

“I’m eighteen!” Keith exclaimed.

“None of them have even graduated the Garrison; they have no need to fight as well.”

“I think the evil space aliens say otherwise,” Pidge pointed out, crossing her arms challengingly. “You need five pilots and I don’t see enough _adults_ here to pilot a match box.”

“I still don’t think children piloting a group of very powerful war machines is a very good idea.”

“Well good luck trying to get Lance away from his ‘war machine,’ because I have a feeling you’d need it,” Pidge pointed out, shooting a brief, challenging look at Allura.

“If it makes you feel better, I won’t pilot one,” Hunk offered, raising a hand like he was in class. “We have an extra person anyways and I’m really not good with flying in general so that’s one less student you’ll have to worry about.”

“As touching as that offered is, that’s not how the lion’s work,” Allura interrupted, touching a few buttons on the control panel until five lions appeared on the holographic display. “The lions choose their paladins, if you are chosen then those decisions you are making now are pointless.”

“Oh, so they’re like Harry Potter wands. Cool. Cool,” Pidge said with a grin. “That explains why Blue chose Lance then. From what I can tell those two are the same type of crazy. It’s a match made in heaven.”

“And how would you know that?” Allura asked tensely.

“Because I doubt Lance was the one doing barrel rolls once she was in the air again. He also didn’t zap Keith for the hell of it or strap Lance into the pilot chair when someone threatened to remove him.”

“She did that?” Coran asked, looking amazed. “They must have hit it off pretty well to have such a bond already. That’s fantastic new!”

“’Fantastic’ is not the word I would have used,” Allura said, sounding less than thrilled.

“Soooo…how does the whole lion choosing their paladin thing work if there’s only one lion here right now?” Hunk inquired. “Unless you have the other four hidden in the castle somewhere, which I suppose you could but I’m pretty sure they would have picked better hiding spots then their own hangers.”

“Before the lions went into hiding, my father linked my lifeforce to them. This makes me uniquely qualified to see the compatibility between each lion and possible paladin.”

“So basically, you’re choosing who get’s what lion,” Hunk said, sounding a bit suspicious.

“It is more complicated than that.”

“So _that’s_ why you’re so prissy about Lance and Blue! It all makes sense now!” Pidge exclaimed gleefully. “You didn’t get to pick him so in your mind, he shouldn’t be paladin.”

“Can you please not bring those two up every couple of ticks. It’s distracting,” Allura stated, leveling a flat look at Pidge who just ignored it.

“No way, I haven’t had this much fun since I found my brother’s Deviant Art account from when he was twelve,” Pidge replied. He leaned towards Adam, pretending to whisper to him. “It was full of _My Little Pony_ art. He even had an old Pony-sona. I lived like a queen off that blackmail for months!”

“As entertaining as that is, we really should focus,” Adam replied, “Plus, I think everyone had a pony-sona when they were twelve.”

“I sure as hell didn’t,” Pidge replied indignantly.

“I…don’t know what a pony-sona is,” Keith said, looking thoroughly confused.

“I had a Hogwarts Wizard-sona. Does that count?” Hunk pipped up.

“Sure.”

“Wait.” Pidge held up a finger, a thought seemingly crossing her mind. “Adam, did _you_ have a pony-sona?”

“No, but Shiro did.” Adam suppressed a grin as the other pilot made a very good impression of a deer caught in headlights. Adam didn’t feel sorry for him even as the way too ecstatic Pidge turned his sights on Shiro. That’s what he gets for dragging him into space with those puppy-dog eyes.

“You’re kidding!” Pidge exclaimed with glee. Shiro shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat.

“So princess, what were you saying about the lions?” Shiro’s very obvious change of subject was enough to make Pidge collapse to the floor in a fit of giggles.

“He might as well have just admitted it,” Pidge wheezed, earning a sigh from said pilot.

“Princess?” Shiro tried again, finally getting her attention away from the small figure currently rolling around on the floor. “The lions?”

“Right, the ponies- I mean lions!” Allura’s face flushed red as Pidge laughed even harder. “The _lions_ each hid themselves in a location of their own choosing, but the castle should be able to track them fairly easily. It will just take a little time.”

“Alright, once we find them, then what?” Adam asked, stepping over Pidge to get a better look at the hologram.

“Then we send the pilot over to fly it back,” Allura tapped the screen as few times again, making a progress bar pop up. “As we wait for the ship to locate their signals, we can figure out who is retrieving what.”

-

“Look, there has to be something you can do,” Adam demanded as he followed the princess down the hall. They had left the other four to change into their paladin gear while she showed Adam to the armory so he could get a suit of his own. “They’re children for Pete’s sake. Two of them have never been in the pilot program and none of them beside Shiro have graduated from it.”

“I already said you are not compatible with any of the lions. Your ‘training’ does not change this,” Allura said flatly, not even bothering to look at him.

“Your exact words were that I was not compatible _as I was now._ Which, to me, sounds more like a copout then an actual reason,” Adam stated. Allura ignored him, pressing her mouth into a thin line of annoyance. “I think you just don’t want me piloting one because I’m the only one questioning the validity of any of this.”

“That is one reason, yes.” She stopped suddenly by a door, giving Adam a firm glair. “You’ve also shown that you have little to no respect for the lions so making you a pilot of one would be against everyone’s best interest. And that is the main reason for your incompatibility, I can assure you.”

“So you’d rather have four kids and a broken pilot be your ‘defenders’,” Adam said with a frown.

“Yes, I would.”

“You’re going to get them killed.”

“I am certain they can hold their own.” Allura pressed a hand against a nearby control panel, opening the armory door. “Get suited up. Unless you’d rather Shiro and Pidge go retrieve the Green Lion on their own.”

Adam glared at the princess, not fond of being ordered around by someone that wasn’t his superior officer.

“You might as well grab Lance one of the spare suits as well. There is no Blue Paladin armor so he will be forced to make do with what we have.”

“You’d be surprised,” Adam muttered as he entered the room, remembering the pile of armor pieces that had been stored in Lance’s lion. After all, he had gotten a pretty good look at it during his forced time in the cargo hold.

“What was that?” Allura asked. Adam only raised an eyebrow before shutting the door without answering.

He sighed, taking a second to let himself catch up on everything that’s happened over the last day. He couldn’t quite wrap his brain around everything as of yet. One moment he had been called in the help the Garrison deal with his upset, previously missing, ex. The next he finds himself in an alien castle, helping four children and said ex acquire war machines to fight different aliens. Needless to say, it was getting to be a bit overwhelming for this particular pilot.

Hell, he didn’t even know how he felt about Shiro’s reappearance at the moment, or his new _appearance_ in general. The man now had amnesia, was missing an arm, and Adam was certain the scar on his nose wasn’t the only one he earned during his capture. It was hard to believe that it had only been a year. It hurt him to see Shiro like this, and he wasn’t quite sure how to process it all.

When he first caught sight of him in the Garrison’s temporary base it felt like someone had knocked the wind out of his lungs. Adam had to keep reminding himself to breath every few seconds just watching as Shiro ranted like a madman and struggling against the doctors. Even now he could feel a tightness in his chest, emotions threatening to spill out.

Adam shook his head, pushing it them down as swiftly as he could. He didn’t have time to deal with wayward thoughts. He was a military professional and he needed to act like it.

Adam looked around the room, focusing solely on the task at hand. He had to admit it was a pretty well stocked armory. There were several different sets of space suits, armored and not, as well as a good variety of weapons, some of which he couldn’t even begin to guess how they worked.

The man worked swiftly, picking out a grey and black armored suit that looked similar to that of the paladins but not as showy. Once he was dressed, he scanned through the various weapons at his disposal. He wasn’t particularly fond of hand-held weapons in general, but he refused to go searching on an unknown planet without something he could use for defense.

He pulled a single, average looking laser pistol out of it’s display, looking it over before deciding it would do. He strapped it to his hip, making sure it wouldn’t come loose before exiting the room and making his way back to the others.

The chosen paladins had finished changing into their space suits by the time he returned. Allura was already there as well, shooting him a dirty look that he refused to acknowledge.

“Well, I’m ready to go when you two are,” Adam stated, all but announcing his arrival.

“Nice suit,” Pidge complimented before going back to messing with his own helmet as Shiro just stared at him, slack jawed.

Adam had to hide a smile, the other man’s expression reminding him of when they both got their first uniforms after graduation. Shiro hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of him then either. But he got rid of that train of thought quickly, silently scolding himself for the distraction before focusing back to what he was supposed to be doing.

“Thanks,” he answered, turning away from Shiro. “Are you both ready?”

“Not yet. I’m waiting for something,” Pidge answered with a smug grin he didn’t trust.

“What are you waiting for?” Adam asked wearily as a red light began flashing in the corner of Pidge’s visor.

“Lance.” The green paladin’s smile took on a more sinister turn, glancing briefly at Allura while she wasn’t looking. Adam shook his head, not taking very long to figure out what the gremlin was up to. He figured he’d let it play out. It could be amusing to say the least.

“Speaking of our missing Paladin, did you grab him a spare suit?” Coran questioned, looking up from the screen he had been studying.

“No, I didn’t think it was necessary,” Adam replied, stepping out of the doorway to help a struggling Hunk with his arm bracers.

“It’s quite necessary, in fact. Especially since we are uncertain what you will run into at these places. Blue may not be enough to keep the lad safe,” Coran said with a worried frown.

“He’ll be fine.”

“But with the Blue Paladin armor missing-“

The door shot open then, revealing Lance standing there, dressed in said Blue Paladin armor and posing dramatically with a futuristic looking rifle.

“It’s ok now! I am here!” He exclaimed to the shocked room.

Everyone stood in silence for several seconds until Pidge shook his head.

“You had a chance for a great entrance and you waste it on nerdy shit like that? I should have expected it, I really should have.”

“Screw you! All Might is awesome!” Lance exclaimed.

“Such a nerd.”

Lance grumbled to himself, walking the rest of the way into the room.

“Please say you at least recorded it,” Lance inquired as he put away his bayard.

“Of course I did. Still am, in fact. Waiting patiently for Allura’s reaction to-“

“Where did you get that?” The princess demanded, getting both boy’s attention.

“There it is,” Pidge said with a grin. “This is going to be great.”

“What, the suit?” Lance asked, straightening the cuffs just for show. “Found it in Blue. I think your last paladin left it in there for me. It was sitting nice and pretty in the cargo bay and everything.”

“He wouldn’t have just _left_ it there. And especially not for you.”

“Then how do you explain why it was there?” Lance asked, seemingly less effected by the princess’s words than earlier. When she didn’t answer he turned his attention towards Coran. “Also the suit looks like it took some damage before I got it. Not very much, mostly just cosmetic stuff but is there a way to get it fixed up?”

“Of course,” Coran said, grinning at the Blue paladin. “We can take care of that as soon as you get back. As long as the Galra don’t attack about then. If that’s the case then you might have to wait till after that.”

“That’s fine. Just wanted to let you know,” Lance said. “Anyways, ready to fetch your Lion Hunk? I heard I’m being your chauffeur for the evening so I’m ready when you are.”

Lance did a little bow in the direction of his yellow clad friend.

“How chivalrous,” Hunk replied flatly.

“Hey Adam! Are you going to bow to us too? Since you are Shiro and my chauffeur,” Pidge teased, the red light still flashing in his helmet.

“You don’t look like royalty to me.”

“Hey! I once made my brother call me his Liege for an entire month. If that doesn’t translate to royalty, then I don’t know what does.”

“Unfortunately, you don’t blackmail material on me so that won’t work,” Adam replied. “You could always try it on Shiro though. I know plenty of material that you could use.”

“Don’t give him ideas,” Shiro pleaded as Pidge’s eyes began to sparkle with anticipation.

“He would have come up with it eventually.”

“Tell me!” Pidge exclaimed.

“I don’t give out that type of information for free. If you want it then you’re going to have to trade me some sort of information in return.”

“I’ve got dirt on Keith. Would that work?”

“That’s enough of that,” Shiro all but pleaded as he began herding Pidge towards the door. “We have a mission to do.”

“We’ll talk more about it later,” Adam whispered as they passed.

“No, you won’t.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.
> 
> Also, if you want to see how I imagine Adam's new armor looking (or just see some sloppy sketches of Adam in this fic by your's truly) [head over here.](https://tblsomedoodles.tumblr.com/post/182859833596/inheritance-adam-aka-adam-if-he-ended-up-going)


	10. Making Plans...kind of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Pidge get their lions, Keith is uncomfortable, and Lance is determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! New chapter! Apologies for the little delay, i was a bit sick last week so i was unable to post this until now. But here it is now!
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“I’m never doing that again,” Hunk exclaimed over the coms as the wormhole closed behind them.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lance said with a chuckle. “We got your lion, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, but we almost died like 10 times!”

“Everything was under control. Plus, it was only like five times, tops.”

“It shouldn’t have been _any_ times. It was supposed to be a peaceful planet!”

“According to a map ten thousand years out of date,” Lance reminded as he guided Blue into her hanger.

“That doesn’t make it any better!”

“I wasn’t trying to ‘make it better.’ I’m just saying you really shouldn’t put so much faith into such an outdated map.” Lance exited Blue, patting her leg as he passed, earning a short purr in response before dozing off. After using her own quintessence to open the original wormhole as well as participating in two, mostly solo, battles the poor girl was exhausted.

“But it updated itself about all the other planets. Why not ours?” Hunk asked just as Lance left the hanger, giving Blue a chance to charge up before they were needed again. He hoped it would be a while for her sake, but Blue wasn’t as optimistic.

“I don’t know what to tell you, man,” Lance said, shrugging as he met up with the Yellow Paladin in the hallway, switching from coms to face-to-face talking almost seamlessly. “Maybe the Galra hadn’t been there long.”

“They still need to update their systems” he grumbled, making Lance smile.

“That they do.” He patted Hunk on the shoulder as they walked into the bridge. It was a large room that was mostly empty except for Coran and Keith standing at one of the monitors while Allura operated the wormhole generator for the remaining paladins.

“You got the Yellow Lion, congrats!” Coran exclaimed happily. “How did it go?”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Lance removed his helmet as he sat in an empty chair.

“Not too bad? He launched me out of his lion!” Hunk accused, pointing at Lance who shrugged.

“In my defense, it was Blue’s idea.”

“Was launching Adam into the cargo hold earlier her idea too?” Keith asked skeptically.

“Duh, how else was she supposed to get back at him for being rude.”

“How was he being rude?

“He called her impossible to her face.”

“Yes, that definitely sounds worthy of a launching,” Coran agreed. “The lions are quite proud machines after all. Any and all rudeness will be retaliated.”

“Hear! Hear!” Lance held up a fake cup like he was trying to toast. Hunk grumbled to himself, taking a seat at a monitor as well.

“Still don’t see why she launched me,” He muttered.

Lance didn’t have a chance to answer as the main doors opened once again to a triumphant Pidge followed closely by two awkward looking adults.

“Guess who’s paladin of the Green lion!” Pidge announced proudly.

“Wait! I know this one!” Lance furrowed his brow, pretending to think really hard. “Is it a very ambitious sloth alien?”

“No! Try again,” Pidge said with a grin. “On second thought, I’ll just tell you. Wouldn’t want you hurting the precious few braincells you have left.”

“Jokes on you, I got rid of those pesky things years ago,” Lance teased back.

“How am I not surprised?” Pidge asked flatly, jumping up to sit on the corner of Lance’s control panel. “And it’s me. I’m your newest Green Paladin.”

“Such shocking news! I never would have guessed.”

“I know. I’m amazing. You may grovel as you see fit,” Pidge said. Lance rolled his eyes at the boy’s dramatics. “So, how’d your trip go?”

“Good.”

“Horrible,” Hunk interjected.

“We had to fight a few Galra that were trying their hand at mining, but it turned out fine.”

“We fought Galra and you launched me into a cliff!”

“Wow, Blue must really like launching people,” Pidge stated, sounding impressed.

“Well, Hunk was launched out of necessity. Adam was launched just for fun,” Lance explained with a grin.

“Regardless, I’m glad I have my own lion now so I don’t have to worry about being next.”

“You guys are being dramatic, it wasn’t that bad.”

“When Blue decides it’s your turn, then you can tell us it’s not that bad,” Adam stated, walking down the aisle, patting Hunk’s shoulder lightly before taking a seat just past the Yellow Paladin.

“’When?’ What makes you so sure she will?”

“It’s inevitable,” Pidge said with a shrug.

“I doubt it, Blue and I are tight.” Lance crosses his fingers, holding them up as an example.

“Then why don’t you ask her yourself,” Allura state as she stepped away from the wormhole control. “She should give you an answer if you’re as close as you claim.”

“She’s asleep,” Lance said nonchalantly. “And I don’t know about you but I’d rather not disturb her first proper nap in ten thousand over something as petty as this.”

“Weren’t they sleeping the entire time they were in hiding?” Keith asked.

“I wouldn’t really call it ‘sleeping.’ It’s probably closer to a power saving mode as compared to turning off your computer and charging the battery.”

“Correct,” Coran said, flashing Lance a proud grin. “The lions are uniquely connected to the castle in such a way that it charges their batteries and refurbishes any systems that may have taken damage. They can get energy from other sources, yes, but connecting to the castle is by far the quickest and easiest way to do so.”

“See? A proper nap.” Lance leaned back in his chair. “She’ll be fully charged by morning so those Galra won’t have a chance.”

“Unfortunately, the Galra will be here long before morning,” Allura pointed out. She typed a few things into a control panel, bringing up a large space map with several swiftly moving red dots decorating it. Among them was a Voltron symbol that was also red.

“Those are the Galra fleet headed this way. They’re a lot closer than we thought originally, in fact, it wouldn’t be long now before they are in communication range.”

“They have the Red lion,” Adam stated, looking closely at the map.

“Yes, though I doubt they will be able to use him against us.”

“Why? Because you didn’t approve a Galra paladin?” Pidge pipped up, kicking his feet out innocently.

“Because Red is almost as picky as Blue in regards to who pilots him and he would never choose someone who’s morals collide with that of his or Voltron’s.”

“There might be a good Galra on the ship that could pilot him,” Pidge pointed out. “You never know.”

“There’s no such thing as a good Galra,” Allura spat. Keith flinched, hand immediately going to where his watch was hidden under the armor. Lance was the only one that noticed, raising a questioning eyebrow at the Red paladin. Keith quickly looked away, ignoring the silent question to the best of his ability.

“Well that’s pretty racist,” Hunk said, crossing his arms with a frown.

“They destroyed my planet! Took over the galaxy!”

“Doesn’t mean you can condemn an entire species because of the actions of a few.”

“It was more than a few,” Allura reminded.

“But it wasn’t everyone.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know someone that might,” Lance cut in. Keith’s gaze snapped to the Blue Paladin, eyes wide while everyone else looked at him vaguely curious. Lance was definitely going to ask him about that later, just not now.

Instead he motioned towards the front of the room, at the now active screen displayed there. On it was a large, fluffy alien with a cyborg eye that looked vaguely confused.

“Excuse me, Mr. Furry, you’re a Galra, right?” Lance asked, getting out of his chair to speak to the alien. “Are all of your species planet destroying monsters that kidnap defenseless Alien scientists in your spare time or is that not a requirement? I’m asking for a friend.”

“Lance!” Hunk exclaimed as said alien narrowed his eyes, well ‘eye’, at the Blue paladin. “Not cool man!”

“What? You all wanted to know!”

“We will be at your current location in two vargas. Once we arrive, you will be turning over the Blue and Yellow lions or their will be severe consequences.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at the alien, even though the connection dropped as soon as he finished speaking.

“I have a feeling those consequences wouldn’t have been as bad if Lance didn’t call him a furry,” Pidge stated, hopping down to steal Lance’s seat.

“I think it was more the ‘planet-killing monster’ bit that got him,” Adam said, shooting a disapproving look towards Lance.

“Her words, not mine,” Lance said off hand, pointing a thumb towards Allura.

“I did _not_ say that.”

“May as well have.”

“Can we _please_ focus on the fact that he just demanded two of our lions and is refusing to take no for an answer?” Hunk pleaded, looking genuinely freaked out. “I mean, I don’t know about you guys but I kinda think that’s little more important.”

“Agreed, it’s a little odd he asked for only those two,” Shiro pointed out. “Maybe he doesn’t know we found Green too.”

“He just knows better than to touch my shit,” Pidge stated confidently, placing his hands behind his head and sending a pointed look at Hunk.

“I’m sure that’s it,” Adam answered, sarcasm coming off him in waves.

“Then what do we do about it?” Keith asked, coming over to stand near Shiro by the map

“Maybe we should just do as he says,” Hunk offered. “I mean I know that’s not the best idea-“

“No,” Lance cut him off sharply. “That’s not an option.”

“But he sounded pretty serious and I _really_ don’t want to find out what those ‘severe consequences’ are.”

“I’m not handing Blue over to anyone, especially not those that see her as just as weapon.” Lance crossed his arms, still glaring at the screen.

“But the Galra said-“

“That Galra can take his ‘consequences’ and shove them right up his ass, assuming he has one. I’m not handing over _my_ lion because some crackpot with a fake eye is issuing out vague death threats.” Lance spun around to face the others, eyes alight with determination. “If they want Blue, they’re going to have to kill me first.”

In the silence that followed, he felt Blue stir from her nap, no doubt picking up on his emotions. He took a calming breath before assuring his lion that all was well and lulling her back to sleep.

“For once, I agree with Lance,” Allura said, purposefully ignoring Pidge’s muttering about miracles in space. “Giving up the Lions isn’t an option. Neither is hiding them again, I’m afraid. We could run but that would leave us in a worse spot than we are now. We need to fight, and we need to unite Voltron to do it.”

“That means we need Red,” Keith said. “Which they have.”

“Not for long they don’t,” Allura said with a confident smile. “I believe I have an idea.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve me giving up Blue then it’s fine.”

-

Two hours later, Lance and Hunk had their lions outside the castle, in plain sight, waiting for the Galra ship to come into view.

Lance pouted in the cockpit, not thrilled with the princess’s plan, or the lecture Blue had already given him regarding the declaration he made while she was sleeping. She hadn’t liked that he would even think death was an option and had been thoroughly scolding him for it.

“I don’t like this,” Lance muttered. Hunk rolled his eyes on screen while Pidge shook his head on the other.

“Stop complaining,” Keith said, leaning into view on Pidge’s screen. Shiro was there to but Lance couldn’t see him. “You’re only pretending to give up your lion, not actually doing it.”

“I know that!” Lance shot back. “But even pretend, I still don’t like it.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“No, I’m not. She’s important to me, alright? I would be like me trying to hand over one of my sisters.”

“You once told me you’d trade Veronica for a Snickers bar,” Hunk pointed out.

“Yeah, not hand her over to some purple, hairy aliens for free.” Lance crossed his arms over his chest with a frown.

“So what? We tell them to comeback with some candy bars?”

“I’d trade all five of them if they brought a Kit Kat,” Pidge said, leaning back in his chair with a grin. “I haven’t had one of those since I joined the Garrison.”

“I’d trade the entire castle for a Reese’s,” Hunk said dreamily. “Not even a whole packet of them or anything, just a singular Reese’s cup.”

“We aren’t trading anything for candy bars,” Shiro stated, crouching down so he could be seen as well. “And I doubt the princess appreciates us even joking about it.”

“She’s not a fan of it, I can assure you,” Adam said, his audio staticing a bit as he spoke through the castle’s systems. He had stayed behind to operate the castle’s weapons if need be. He was supposed to be getting a crash course on them from Coran about now but Lance wasn’t going to call him out on it. “Not to mention, you all have horrible taste. If I were trading the castle for anything it would be a Payday.”

“No way! That thing shouldn’t even be called a candy bar!” Pidge exclaimed heatedly. “I wouldn’t trade Lance for one of those monstrosities!”

“Hey!”

“Well I quite like them,” Adam said, very matter of fact. “I’m sorry none of you have as refined tastes when it comes to candy bars.”

“You should think about those words, sir,” Hunk replied. “Because where I come from, those are fighting words.”

“I mean everyone except Hunk, of course.”

“Better.” Hunk nodded, relaxing back into his chair once again.

“It doesn’t even have any chocolate!” Pidge yelled, not giving up the fight that easily.

“That’s the point.”

“You monster!”

“Um guys?” Hunk called, his weary tone catching everyone’s attention. He was sitting up again, tensely pointing towards his front view screen. “I think they’re here.”

Lance looked out his own window to find a large, dangerous looking ship pulling towards the planet.

“Alright everyone, it’s show time,” Shiro said as the playful atmosphere faded to one of determination. “Let’s get the Red Lion and show these Galra we aren’t to messed with.”

“Hell yeah!” Pidge exclaimed. “They won’t know what hit them!”

Blue purred in agreement, her excitement palatable. She couldn’t wait to reunite with the rest of her Pride, and giving the Galra their first taste of defeat in ten thousand years was pretty appealing too. Lance grinned, liking the sound of that. He had a feeling that this was going to be better than he first thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	11. Just Don't die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk makes a phone call, Lance plays decoy, and Keith get's ditched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back. Thank you for your patience, it's been a fairly busy couple of weeks for me and I didn't have much time for my own stuff until recently. I was just able to finish this off today (so if anythings out of sorts, that's probably why.)
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“You do it,” Lance said, crossing his arms across his chest in defiance.

“Lance, we’ve been over this. We aren’t actually doing it,” Hunk tried to coerce, but Lance was holding his ground. The others had already left the chat so it was only the two of them left on screen.

“I know that,” Lance said with a frown. “But fake or not, I’m not saying it.”

“Come on, man. You know how bad I am with phones. It will probably be even worse with that Galra on the other end.”

“I may be going along with this plan but I refuse to actually say that I’m handing over my lion. That’s where I draw the line.”

“You just did. You literally just said it.”

“I’m not saying it again.”

“You’re acting like a child,” Hunk accused. Blue agreed with the Yellow Paladin, but Lance could feel an undercurrent of approval as well so it couldn’t be all that bad.

“I can accept that,” Lance agreed with a small nod. “But I’m still not saying it.”

“Lance, this is ridiculous. Why can’t you just-“ Hunk cut himself off with a surprised yip as the Galra from before appeared on screen once again.

“Paladins of Voltron,” the Galra rumbled. “Have you decided?”

“Yes, we have,” Lance answered confidently. “You tell him, Hunk.”

“But Lance!”

“Well? Don’t leave the alien waiting,” Lance said sweetly, sending Hunk a smile that the other boy definitely didn’t appreciate.

“I hate you. I hate you so much right now,” Hunk whispered, leaning towards one side of the screen that Lance assumed his video chat was located.

“Your answer, paladins,” the Galra demanded, his patience running thin. “Are you complying with our demands or will we have to force you?”

“We’re complying! We’re complying!” Hunk exclaimed as a large gun turned towards the lions. “We are totally prepared to hand over our two lions!”

“Very well,” He grumbled, giving Lance the distinct impression that he had really wanted to shoot them. “Prepare your vessels for the tractor beam.”

The Garla’s feed cut out, leaving the two paladins alone in silence.

“You think he bought it?” Lance asked, earning a flat look from his friend.

“No thanks to you,” Hunk grumbled, sending Lance a dirty look as a tractor beam appeared and began to pull the two ships away from the castle.

“Sorry, I had to do what I had to do.”

“You didn’t _do_ anything other than probably piss off the big, scary Galra man! Again!”

“Honestly, I think he would have been pissed no matter what.”

“You didn’t need to make it worse!”

“I just thought you’d like to know we’re in,” Pidge interrupted over their headset’s com system. “Just in case you two stop your lover’s quarrel long enough to care.”

“Oh Pidge, you know I only have eyes for you,” Lance said in an excessively dreamy voice.

“I’d rather kiss a cactus,” Pidge replied flatly as Keith muttered something about becoming sick.

“You wound me.”

“Good,” He said. “Now would you mind upping the distraction a bit? We’re entering some heavily guarded territory that we’d rather not have so heavily guarded.”

“On it!” Lance exclaimed as Hunk groaned.

“Why is it always us that have to fight the Galra?” He questioned.

“They’ll get their turn I’m sure,” Lance assured with a smile. “In the meantime, …”

“Oh no, what are you doing?” Hunk looked concerned as Lance started tapping buttons instead of answering. A moment later he had an open com link between them and the enemy’s surprised bridge crew. The Galra from before sat smack dab in the center with a scowl.

“Attention alien ship!” Lance exclaimed as the aliens stared at him in shock. “We have changed our minds!”

“You can’t change your mind!” The large Galra yelled, standing up swiftly from his captain’s chair.

Blue’s laser gun fired at the other ship, knocking the tractor beam enough to free both lions.

“You wanna bet?”

The Galra snarled at him, his cybernetic eye flashing dangerously.

“You are going to regret that,” he growled, making Lance grin back.

“I doubt I will,” he replied, swinging Blue around to the other side of the ship, insuring their attention was away from Green and Yellow.

“Prepare the gun!” He bellowed, sending him lackies scrambling. “I want them both shot out of the sky!”

“Yeah, have fun with that when it’s broke,” Lance taunted, shooting down two fighters that had barely made it out of the ship. The remains of them got wedged in the exit port, making sure no others could use that exit.

“This gun can’t be broken by the likes of you!” The Galra yelled. A second later the entire enemy ship lurched as red lights began flashing throughout the bridge.

“The gun is incapacitated sir!” One of the terrified crew members yelled off screen.

“What?!” he yelled as Lance shot down another fighter.

“You were saying?” Lance asked sweetly. The cyborg-like captain growled, his face contorting as if he had just bitten into a lemon for the first time.

“I want every single fighter we have out there now!” He screamed, making his subordinates scramble once again. “And if that blue lion is still in the air in five dovashes there will be hell to pay!”

The Galra screen went blank as more fighters took to the air. Hunk gave lance a panicked look as the Yellow lion took off away from the now damaged gun.

“Was that necessary? Because I don’t think that was necessary,” Hunk asked as a swarm of enemy fighters started towards Lance and Blue.

“They wanted a bigger distraction so I gave them a bigger distraction.” Lance and blue dodged through the fighters, shooting a few down as they went. Lance was pretty confident they could handle all of these little guys while Blue, she was just having fun.

“You didn’t have to paint a target on your back to do it!” Hunk exclaimed, trying to help Lance deal with the swarm.

“But where’s the fun in that?”

“How about _not dying?_ That’s fun, right?”

“Don’t worry, we’re not dying today,” Lance said, dodging a volley of lasers in the process.

“You don’t know that!”

“I kinda do,” Lance answered. Blue chuckled a bit but agreed regardless. “It’s not our fate to die today.”

“How can you joke at a time like this?!”

“It’s a talent. Speaking of jokes, I should check on Keith,” Lance said. Lance laughed at Hunk’s groan of despair as he turned on the headset’s comm system once again. “Yo Keith! How’s it going over there?”

“They ditched me!” Keith’s voice stated from the other side. “As soon as the guards thinned out they ditched me for some possible prisoners!”

“Tough luck,” Lance said, barely missing a few more Galra lasers before Hunk could take them out. “Find Red yet?”

“I’m working on it!” Keith growled into the mic.

“Just don’t get caught before you find him.”

“It’s hard to get caught when the entire crew is out chasing you. What did you do to make him single you out like that?”

“Just annoyed him until he got pissed,” Lance said proudly.

“So you were just being you, good to know,” Keith said flatly.

“I resent that-SHIT!” Lance swore as a laser clipped Blue’s flank, sending them reeling.

“Hey man, you alright?” Hunk called, covering Lance while he got Blue back under control.

“What happened?” Keith demanded over the comms, a worried tone to his voice. Blue grumbled, more annoyed then actually hurt.

“Just a lucky shot,” Lance answered, immediately going after the bastard that hit him. “Were you worried about me?”

“Only about Blue. I’d rather not lose a part of Voltron before we even have a chance to form it.”

“Rude,” Lance said before letting out a celebratory shout when the fighter finally went down. “Hah! Take that you little shit!”

“You better not be talking about…” Keith’s voice trailed off into silence.

“Dude, you good over there?” Lance called, a little concerned for the other boy but not wanting to show it. Blue hummed knowingly in the back of his mind before getting shooed by Lance back to the fight.

“Found Red,” Keith said quietly. “He’s still guarded though.”

“Need a bigger distraction? I can do that.”

“Don’t you dare!” Hunk yelled over the ship’s comms. “I don’t want to know how many _more_ fighters they can fit that damn ship so just leave it!”

“Welp, I guess I can’t do that. Hunk said no and I’d rather not see him mad. He’s scary when he’s mad,” Lance whispered the last part only to get a sigh from the soon to be the Red paladin.

“That’s fine. I can handle them.”

“You do that,” Lance stated, dodging some more lasers that were starting to get a little close for comfort. “Preferably quickly because these guys are getting vicious. We could use some backup.”

“On it.” Keith’s comm link dropped as he assumingly went to do his job.

“Lance, I think we should call the castle because I’m not sure we’ll make it until the others are free,” Hunk said, a laser knocking him into Lance and Blue. “Ow, yeah definitely could use the castle’s guns right now.”

Lance groaned at the impact, about to agree when Blue stopped him, her refusal strong in his mind.

“No,” Lance said instead, echoing Blue’s word as she said them. “Not yet.”

“Not yet?” Why not yet?” Hunk yelled, the fighters beginning to close around them.

“Just not yet!”

“But Lance-“

“Do you trust me?”

“Well yeah but-“

“Then not yet,” Lance said, almost pleading with his friend. This was important, he could feel it even though he didn’t know why. Blue wouldn’t share it with him yet but from the strength of her refusal, he knew something bad would happen if the castle joined the fight now.

“Fine, but if we die, I’m going to haunt you in the afterlife,” Hunk stated, bringing a smile to the Blue Paladin’s face as he went back to picking off fighters.

“Sounds good to me. I’m sure I wouldn’t mind the company.”

“That’s good because I have a feeling that’s going to happen sooner rather than later!” Hunk yelled, dodging a couple volleys from the enemy before shooting back.

“You’ll be fine, they’re mostly after me anyways.”

“That’s what’s worrying me!” Hunk finally broke free of the swarm by blasting a lion size gap in it. Lance tried to follow but the rest of the fighters closed the gap too quickly.

“Um Lance? I think the gun is working.”

“Damn, they work fast,” Lance stated as he knocked another fighter down. “Can you take it out again?”

“Probably, but I can’t just leave you like this.”

“I’m fine.” Lance’s attempt to reassure the other paladin was subverted when he got hit by another laser blast. “Well, fine-ish. Just go. The gun’s more important at this point.”

“Right, right, the gun can harm the castle more then the fighters.” Hunk nodded, the yellow lion shooting off away from the swarm, a few ships following but most staying near Lance. “Just be careful.”

“I’ll try,” Lance said through gritted teeth as a ship barely missed ramming into Blue’s side.

“That’s not reassuring.”

“I’m well aware,” Lance said, hissing as another enemy shot hit home, jostling him roughly around the cockpit. He had Blue turn off Hunk’s feed so he could focus on the fighters surrounding him. They were ferocious, seemingly getting more desperate as their ten minutes ran low. Even more of them were trying to crash their ships into him, willing to do anything to damage the ship and paladin.

Lance was just wondering if he had overestimated his and Blue’s abilities when a fighter he hadn’t noticed blew up just before it could hit his ship.

“Did someone call for backup?” Keith questioned, a video feed of him in a Red lit cockpit popping up on screen.

“Keith! My hero!” Lance grinned as a Red lion few in front of them to join the fight. “I could kiss you right now.”

Lance could have sworn Keith blushed but with all the red lights surrounding him, it was hard to tell. He went to question the other paladin about it but Pidge’s very exasperated face appeared on screen before he had the chance.

“I swear! Every time we leave you tow alone, I have to come back to you flirting,” The green paladin complained. “Can’t you wait until we’re _not_ busy doing shit! Or at least wait until I’m not around to hear it!”

“I’m sorry Keith, but you heard the gremlin. You can’t be hitting on me during battle anymore”

“B-But…!”

“I know, I know, he’s a cruel dictator but he has a point. We need to focus.”

“I’m not flirting!”

“That’s the spirit!” Lance said, winking playfully at the flustered boy on screen.

“ _Paladin,”_ Blue called, drawing his attention back to her. “ _It’s time.”_

“ _So we’re back to this, hmmm?”_

She chuckled lightly before images started flowing into his mind, the castle firing on the fighters, the three remaining lions slipping by them in the distraction, and all five reuniting behind the castle’s protective barrier.

“Lance, are you listening?” Shiro called from Pidge’s screen.

“What? I wasn’t listening,” Lance said, snapping to the present and talking control from Blue again.

“There’s your answer,” Keith said flatly.

“I was saying not to pick on Keith like that while-“

“I’m sorry, Shiro but I don’t really have time for a space dad lecture,” Lance stated, making Pidge grin. “You guys are at the castle, right?”

“Yeah? Why?” Pidge asked.

“Alright, we’re coming in.”

“How do you expect to do that? We’re surrounded,” Keith stated as Hunk tuned back into the channel.

“Gun’s down. Again. And just so you know, I’m not doing it a third time.”

“Thanks Hunk. Hopefully we won’t need it,” Shiro said. “Now Lance, I’m assuming you have a plan to get out of there?”

“You could call it that.” Lance grinned tapping the buttons a bit.

“And what is it?”

“I’m making a call.”

“You said it wasn’t time yet,” Hunk said incredulously, the yellow lion flying close once again.

“It’s time now,” Lance said. “Adam and Co., you there?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be the Co. in this situation but I’m not complaining,” Adam’s voice said through Blue’s speakers. “What do you need?”

“Firepower. Particularly some castle action aimed at these nuisances the Galra call fighters,” Lance explained. “We’re going to make a break for it.”

“This isn’t a plan, this is a train wreck,” Hunk accused. “You’re going to get us shot by our own ship.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Adam said as the faint sound of button pushing could be heard over the mic. “After all I did, backing you up during the candy argument, this is now you repay me?

“This is serious!”

“I’m well aware.” Adam hummed for a moment before speaking once again. “Alright, be ready. I’m firing in 3, 2, 1…”

A bright blue laser shot out of the castle, taking out multiple fighters and making the rest scatter in a panic.

“Let’s go!” Lance yelled, all three of them shooting through the small opening the castle created for them.

The fighters didn’t stay stunned for long, beginning their retaliation before they had gotten halfway back.

Hunk could be heard screaming as they dodged through the lasers. Lance gritted his teeth, making sure he was bringing up the rear in the hopes that the others wouldn’t be targeted as much.

They were almost to the castle when a laser hit Blue’s rear, knocking her and her paladin off course and careening towards the ground. The other’s screamed Lance’s name as he crashed into the ground only a few hundred yards away from the castle. He groaned, rubbing the back of his head lightly in an attempt to clear his thoughts after the unexpected impact.

Lance’s eyes shot wide as he noticed group of fighters heading straight for his downed lion. They each shot a large volley of lasers towards him, making it so that even if Blue were to move right then, they still wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

Lance gripped the armrest, preparing for a hit that never came. Instead, just seconds before the first of them were going to connect, a particle barrier materialized around the castle as well as the Blue lion. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as Blue purred comfortingly.

“I never doubted you,” Lance told her quietly, a small smile on his face. He felt her amusement and pride before climbing to her paws once again.

“Let’s go wake your lazy brother, shall we?”

She purred again in agreement then took back into the air to join her siblings in the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	12. Don't do it again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk issues orders, Coran has a first aid kit, and the lions are reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back! This chapter took a bit of a weird turn that i'm not sure im completely happy with but hey, it works. It's also a bit short but i had some trouble with it (rewrote the first part twice because i didn't like it. Also took out a good portion later on because i liked it too much so i decided to save it for later.)
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Lance landed Blue in the large corridor outside Black’s hanger, settling between Yellow and Red quite neatly.

“Be right back beautiful.” Lance patted one of the control panels lightly, getting a small, happy noise from his lion. He exited quickly in order to join his team, only to almost get bulldozed to the ground by a worried Hunk.

“You can’t do that to me man!” the Yellow Paladin exclaimed, half crushing Lance in a fierce hug. “I thought you were gonna die!”

“He still might if you keep squeezing him like that,” Pidge pointed out, prompting Hunk to look down at his captive.

“Can’t…Breathe…” Lance wheezed. Hunk immediately let go, almost dropping him to the floor.

“Don’t do that again.” Hunk waved a scolding finger in front of Lance’s face as the other boy caught his breath.

“I was fine-“ Lance tried to convince, but Hunk didn’t let him.

“ _Don’t._ Do it. Again.”

“I’ll try?”

“Do or don’t do. There is no try.”

“Oh don’t quote Yoda at me,” Lance said flatly. He removed his helmet, wincing slightly as it bumped a sore spot on the side of his face. He rubbed at it lightly but continued regardless. “Plus, it’s a stupid quote anyways. Sometimes you can’t quite do something but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try it. If you try you get experience so you can try again later and have a better chance at succeeding.”

“Who’d you steal that from because I know you didn’t come up with that yourself,” Pidge asked.

“I could have! You don’t know,” Lance said. Pidge raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “Fine, my grandfather told me that.”

“Is that the same one that Keith-“

“You’re bleeding,” Keith cut in, getting a glare from Pidge that he ignored.

“I am?” Lance asked. Keith motioned towards the spot Lance was still holding, a faint look of concern on his face. Lance lowered his hand to find that there was, in fact, blood on it. It wasn’t a lot, but enough to cover the tips of his fingers. “Oh, I am. I guess that dent near the visor is a little sharp.”

“You don’t say,” Hunk said flatly. Lance used his hand to try and wipe more of the blood away but it felt more like he was smearing it. “Probably got it from all the danger you kept getting into up there.”

“Hey, I said I’d try to be better about it!” Lance pouted.

“You’re making a mess,” Keith said, pulling an old, red bandanna out of his armor pocket. Lance didn’t even have time to protest before Keith was pressing the ratty cloth against the side of his face.

Lance’s mind blanked as soon as it made contact. The cut was very close to one of his eye marks and, even though the watch was keeping them hidden, they were still there. Which meant Keith’s bandanna was pressed right against one. It didn’t hurt, in fact it didn’t really feel like anything. It was like a numb spot on his face he normally didn’t notice. But when someone touched it, especially if they put any sort of pressure, Lance’s mind would just blank as if someone pressed a reset button.

It was a long moment before the handkerchief disappeared, letting Lance’s brain start up once again. He blinked, trying to get back to what he had been doing. Keith was still standing in front of him, focusing on shifting the offending piece of cloth around to a cleaner part.

“It’s bleeding a lot for such a small cut,” Hunk replied from the Red paladin’s left. He hadn’t been there before Lance had zoned out which freaked him out a bit. More because he hadn’t noticed him move then it being Hunk who did it.

Blue cooed at him gently in an attempt to calm his now frazzled nerves. She reminded him that he was safe among his teammates even if he tuned out. He took a breath, agreeing with his lion but making it clear he still would rather not do so if he could help it.

“Head wounds bleed a lot,” Keith replied simply. He moved back to try and clean the would some more, but Lance took a step back, swatting the handkerchief away before he could.

“Nope, no. Not gonna happen,” Lance said with as much confidence as he could muster at the moment. “I’m not letting that filthy piece of cloth near my face again.”

“It’s perfectly clean,” Keith protested as Lance shook his head.

“If that thing’s clean then I’m the queen of England.” Lance placed his hands on his hips, a stubborn look on his face.

“Well then, your majesty, you better let me clean that wound or you’re gong to get blood all over your royal garments.” Keith took another step forward only to freeze when the Blue Lion let out a low, threatening growl.

“See? Blue agrees,” Lance said, moving closer to his magnificent lion. “You’ll probably give me an infection using that thing.”

“For the last time, it’s clean!”

“Alright, who’s ready to unlock the Black Lion?” Coran asked loudly as he led the to other bridge members into the room. “Because the Princess is going to do just that.”

“Oh, so she can do stuff other than opening wormholes and being a general pain in our-“

“Pidge, play nice,” Shiro scolded. The Green paladin rolled his eyes.

“I’m just saying it’s good to know.”

“If you’re done then please move,” Allura asked flatly, motioning towards a control panel directly behind Pidge. “You’re between me where I need to be.”

“Go around.”

“Pidge,” Shiro scolded again as Adam merely smirked.

“Fine!” Pidge sighed dramatically but shifted out of the way regardless.

Allura walked over and started pressing some buttons, pointedly ignoring the rest of the group. It could be argued that she was just focusing really hard, but it felt like ignoring to Lance.

“Alright, while she’s doing that, does anyone need medical attention?” Coran asked, holding up a white box with the words, ‘first aid’ written on it in Altean. Lance blinked and all four of the other paladins were already pointing towards him.

“Come on!” Lance exclaimed, his hands raised in exasperation. “You can’t tell me none of you got injured too.”

“You’re bleeding from your face,” Hunk said, still pointing. “I think that takes priority.”

“Well then, let’s clean it up and take a look, shall we?” Coran said, pulling out a wad of gauze from the box and quickly making his way to Lance.

“Hey, no. I can do it my-“ Lance tried to protest but the gauze pad was pressed against his cheekbone, forcing him to stop once again.

The next thing Lance knew the gauze was being removed as Coran stared at him quizzically. Lance blinked a few times, quickly taking in the sights around him. No one had really moved except for having turned their attention towards whatever Allura was doing.

“Oh, I should have guessed,” Coran murmured to himself. Lance’s gaze snapped towards the older Altean, finding him looking much less confused than he was a moment ago.

“What?” Lance asked. Coran only shook his head, passing him the gauze before rooting through his med kit once again.

“That your cut isn’t that deep,” he said, Coran glanced up at Lance, motioning for him to finished cleaning up the wound. He did as request, careful not to press against the marks like the others had. “I should have something in here that will seal it up right quick.”

“Ok,” Lance agreed, keeping a close eye on the man regardless. But Coran didn’t do anything else out of the ordinary. The man simply pulled out a pen like object and, after shoeing Lance’s hand away, used it on the cut.

“There you are. That should keep it all sealed up until it heals on its own,” he said cheerfully closing up the med kit.

“So it’s like a liquid band-aide.”

“I have no idea what that is but if it makes sense to you, sure! A liquid bands aid,” Coran agreed, making Lance smile.

“Well it’s this thing that-“ Lance stopped as Blue’s excitement spiked in his mind only seconds before the hanger doors in front of them began to open. He watched, wide eyed, as a mechanical lion, larger than all the rest, was slowly revealed.

“Woah,” Lance said softly in the silence that followed. “Big cat.”

Blue wasn’t at all offended or surprised by the attention her brother was getting. Lance felt only joy at being reunited with her siblings. Strangely enough, he could feel them now too. Not like he could his own lion but very faintly, like it was little more than an echo from Blue’s bond with them.

Shiro seemed to take a breath before stepping towards the Black Lion. He stood there and, for a moment, it seemed like the lion wouldn’t respond to him. Black hesitated, like he was studying the scared man offering to pilot him. Whatever Black found he must have approved of as the lion’s eyes lit up and he lowered his head to let his new paladin in.

The Black Paladin let out a breath that Lance barely noticed before turning back around to face his team.

“Alright, let’s go form Voltron.”

“Oh yeah! This is happening!” Pidge yelled, punching the air before daring to his lion without waiting for the rest of them.

“Well, we can’t let him fight the Galra on his own,” Lance said with a shrug. “And you know he will if he we let him.”

“You’re no better,” Keith accused as he passed Lance to get to his own lion. Lance shrugged. “And fix your helmet.”

“My helmet’s perfectly fine!” Lance held it up to show the red paladin, consequently getting a good look at it himself. “Oh yeah, the dent. Hey Coran, is there a quick fix for this or do I have to wait?”

“Let me see,” Coran took the helmet, studying the dent briefly before bending it the other way with his hand. “There we go. It’s not perfect but you at least won’t get cut on it again.”

“Cool, thanks!” Lance said, grinning as he put the helmet back into place. “Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	13. Let's Form Voltron!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance almost looses his comm privileges, the lions get frustrated, and the Galra don't stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you for your patience over the last month. I had a little trouble writing this but i absolutely LOVE how it turned out so alls well that ends well i suppose : ).
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“So um…not to be that guy or anything but does anyone _know_ how to form Voltron?” Hunk questioned as the lions exited the castle. They watched the swarming fighters from the other side of the barrier, mentally preparing to be thrown back into the fray. “Because I’m not seeing a combined button on the controls. I mean, there could be one. I don’t know, I can’t exactly real Altean. But if there was, I’m pretty sure Yellow would tell me about it.”

“Let’s focus on weeding out the fighters first,” Shiro stated, as the barrier dropped long enough for the five of them to fly through, lasers already firing. “We’ll save forming Voltron for when we have some breathing room.”

“I think we’re going to need Voltron to get that breathing room,” Lance said, leading a group of persistent fighters around so Hunk could pick them off unawares. “There’s too many otherwise and we can’t exactly use the castle trick again.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Keith asked, fighting a group on his own a little way away.

“I don’t know. Listen to our lions maybe? They’ve formed Voltron before; they could give us some pointers.”

“Not everyone’s lion talks to them, Lance,” Pidge said flatly. He was fighting alongside Shiro, though it seemed more like it was Shiro’s idea then Pidge’s. The Black Lion was following the smaller lion around, protecting them from whatever decided that Green was a good target. “Plus, the whole thing sounds kind of ridiculous.”

“Ok, so the idea that a lion that’s literally transiting the Altean words on your view screen can speak to you in your mind is ridiculous. I see how it is,” Lance stated taking out a fighter in the process. “You want to know what I think?”

“No?”

“I think you’re just not listening hard enough.”

“How hard do I have to listen to hear a voice in my head?” Pidge demanded.

“Can we please focus on the fighters that are trying to kill us?” Hunk pleaded, barely dodging a volley aimed towards him. “Either that or Voltron, either one really.”

“I vote forming Voltron!” Lance said raising a hand. “Show of hands, who’s with me?”

“Don’t let go of the joysticks!” Keith yelled over the video chat. “Are you _trying_ to die?”

“Blue had me covered,” Lance said with a chuckle. He placed his hand back on the joystick regardless. “It’s cute you were concerned though.”

“Lance, if you don’t stop flirting with Keith during battles, I will have to revoke your com privileges,” Shiro scolded, flying over to help Keith who almost got hit by a ship in his distraction.

“Would you rather I flirt with you?” Lance asked sweetly. He thought for a moment in the silence that followed. “On second thought, that’s not a good idea, especially after the whole ‘space dad’ thing. That and I imagine Adam would be quite jealous.”

“Someone take his mike, please!” Pidge begged. “Save my ears from this torment.”

“But if I can’t talk, how can we fight as a team?”

“Probably better,” Keith muttered though the com.

“We’ll be out of sync!”

“It’s better to be out of sync then listen to every little thought that crosses your mind!”

“Everyone, stop bickering,” Shiro commanded, making everyone all fall silent. “We need to focus on forming Voltron.”

“Yes! About time!” Lance said, throwing a fist in the air.

“Hands on the joysticks!” Keith yelled as Pidge shook his head.

“You’re doing this on purpose now, aren’t you?” The gremlin replied.

“Again, I ask, how do we form Voltron? Any ideas?” Hunk questioned, ignoring the others as Lance stuck his tongue out towards Pidge. “Because we need Voltron like yesterday.”

Lance heard Blue humming agreement. It was long past time to reform with her siblings. Lance felt his own excitement bubble up to the surface once again. Papa Allot used to try and explain what it was like to form Voltron but no matter how many languages he knew, he still couldn’t find the words to accuracy explain the experience. He always ended each attempt with ‘you’ll understand when it’s your turn.’ And now, it finally was.

Blue agreed, her own excitement just as potent as his. He felt her consciousness reach out towards him, beckoning her paladin to do the same. He did so willingly, allowing her presence to surround him. Lance always thought she felt like an ocean to him, cool to the touch and so full of a life that you wouldn’t normally see from the outside.

It was something they did fairly often, whenever he was upset, or hurt or even just lonely. It was like her version of a hug she used when he needed comfort. He hadn’t known how to reach back at first but learned over time, making it almost second nature to him. He had often wondered why she was so adamant to teach him something like that but now he thought he knew why. It was practice. For this.

It felt a bit different then all those times before, like she pulled his consciousness in closer. Now their thoughts and ideas flowed so much more easily between them, as if they were of one mind instead of two sharing a link. There was still some space between them that Blue maintained to keep her future visions from bleeding over unprovoked, but otherwise they were closer than ever.

Blue nudged him, showing him what he needed to do. She prompted him to do the same with his team, to reach out and unite their minds as well as their lion’s.

Lance did as requested but was disappointed when he found nothing to reach for. No one else in their pride was reaching for one another. They just sat in their lions, keeping their minds to themselves. He could feel echoes of frustration from the other lions. They couldn’t do anything without their paladins at least trying to reach for them. Once that connection was made, they could guide them through the rest. But they weren’t. Instead, the other four were, well, Lance wasn’t sure what they were doing. He had ended up tuning out at some point, allowing Blue to take over the controls while he adjusted to their different connection and attempted to form others.

Lance drew his attention away from his own mind, focusing on his surrounding just in time to see Hunk fly Yellow straight into Red’s flank as he shouted “combined!”

“Alright, that didn’t work,” Hunk admitted, seemingly unaware how frustrated his lion was getting or how furious Red was now. “Any other ideas?”

“Reach,” Lance mumbled, finding it difficult to speak at the moment. Blue back off a bit with the promise they’d practice later. Right now, he needed to be able to communicate.

“Reach? Like Halo Reach? That’s a good game and all but I don’t think it applies here,” Hunk said.

“No, just reach,” Lance said, words coming easier now. “Reach out towards your lions.”

“You’re not making any sense, man. Is there a switch on the far side of the cockpit or something? Do we have to reach for that?”

“No, not physically,” Lance said, starting to understand why their lions were so frustrated. “ _Mentally_. Through your bond with your lion. _Reach_ for them.”

“I still don’t get it,” Hunk replied after a moment.

“It sounds like you’re making shit up.”

“Everyone, get into formation,” Shiro ordered.

“How’s that going to help?” Keith asked, the Red Lion falling into place on Shiro’s right.

“Well, it can’t hurt,” Hunk said, his own lion following suit. Once they were in formation, Lance and Blue drew close yet again to reach out for the others. This time he could feel someone there; a calm, focused presence that could only be Shiro. Lance tried to make a connection but Shiro hadn’t reached far enough yet.

The lions lurched up for a moment, not very much but enough for Shiro to lose focus and be gone. Lance grumbled in frustration as he focused back on his surrounding once again.

“I think I feel something,” Pidge said, sounding hopeful.

“Is it a pulling sensation? Because I’m feeling it too,” Keith said.

“Guys,” Hunk called, pointing towards the view screen. “That’s the tractor beam.”

“Well shit, guess this is the end then,” Pidge said, sounded like he had already given up. Lance stared at the Green paladin in shock, quite confused as to why he was giving up already.

“It’s been an honor flying with you all,” Keith said.

Lance wanted to yell at them, scold them for giving up so quickly. To exclaim that if they could just form Voltron, that tractor beam wouldn’t stand a chance. But once again he found himself at a loss for words. It felt like everything he wanted to say was caught in his throat, his mouth unable, or unwilling, to form what he was thinking. He tried to back off his connection with Blue, thinking it might help, but she wouldn’t let him. She insisted that he wait, give them a chance to figure it out on their own now. Words hadn’t helped before, they weren’t going to help now. Plus, they may surprise him.

He wondered what she meant by that, but he only got an amused chuckle from his lion before he felt a tickle in his mind.

Turning his attention inward again, he found Shiro reaching out to the other paladins, doing so a lot better than his first try.

He latched onto him swiftly, reaching out towards the rest just as the Black Paladin was. It wasn’t like the bond with Blue, this one was just enough to show that he was there. Through it he could hear a small speech he was giving the others, telling them all the things Lance hadn’t been able to. Though without a lot of the shouting he had wanted to do.

Soon enough, he felt the others begin to reach out as well. He grabbed them readily as each of them came into range. First being Hunk, followed closely by Pidge and Keith.

Once they were all connected, the lions surged forward, finally able to begin the long-awaited transformation. Lance could feel them all, their presence heavily merged but still distinct in his mind.

Red felt like a forest fire; like a burning passion, as if he were ready to fight at any given moment. One might find such a temperament concerning, but the other lions found it reassuring since that meant he would always fight tooth and nail to protect those he cared for.

Yellow’s presence felt like a large bolder warmed by the sun. She was steady; a constant source of comfort and support for her family. Yet, when push came to shove, she was more than ready to protect her family from harm.

As if in direct contrast to yellow’s immovability, Green’s presence was more flexible, like a crawling vine or a young sapling. They knew when it was better to compromise or try a different approach better than any other. Their stubbornness was more similar to Blue’s in that that they were patient and willing to wait for their prize. It didn’t look like much to start with but neither did an oak sapling who, given enough time, can destroy entire buildings.

Black’s presence was colder, comparative to that of a blackhole. He was more analytics, able break down the situation, issuing orders to his siblings as needed. On the outside this coldness could be read as a type of in difference, especially compared to someone like Red, but that was not the case. Blue knew he cared for them all deeply, and would do what he could to keep them, and their paladins, safe. But as their leader, he was the one forced to make the difficult decisions, which didn’t leave much room for emotions.

Despite the differences among them these five, they worked seamlessly together, like it was the most natural thing in the world. To them, it was. They were build for this and, quite frankly, it had been far too long since they were together.

A cheer of joy erupted from Lance, the lion’s combined happiness making him giddy. He finally understood what his grandfather had been trying to tell him all this time. The experience was beyond anything words could explain, no matter how many languages you had at your disposal. It was like his bond with Blue had been amplified by ten, with each of her siblings and their paladins joining in. Through it he could pick up on a little of what they were feeling, even some of their louder thoughts if he focused hard enough it was amazing.

“I’m a leg!” Hunk yelled in delight as the others all awed over their own as well. Lance grinned.

“Me too, man!” Lance exclaimed happily. Now that the transformation was complete, his bond with Blue felt lighter against his mind, allowing him to speak once again. “Looks like we’ll be carrying team from here on out!”

There was a spark of irritation from Keith’s part of the bond while a bit of amusement came from Shiro’s.

“What was that that supposed to-“

“Not now, Keith,” Shiro scolded lightly. “We have bigger things to worry about.”

“Hell yeah! Let’s kick some alien butt!” Pidge yelled.

“But only the particular aliens that are attacking us because it would be rude to do otherwise!” Hunk added just as animated.

Voltron was free of the tractor beam in a matter of seconds, wasting no time before targeting the giant ship that had it equipped.

Lance could tell the Lions were in control at the moment. Voltron’s movements were slightly clunky, lacking finesse their paladins would have brought to the table. But they were efficient, taking down the ship before they could catch up with what was going on. They made quick work of the remaining fighters as well, leaving Lance feeling a little like a kid trying to steer a car-shaped grocery cart.

Blue chuckled at him, promising that next time he would steer, but right now they didn’t exactly have the time to train all five paladins on how to operate as one giant robot. He grumbled, understanding their logic but still not liking it. He particularly didn’t like the fact that the other lions were just as amused by his annoyance as their sister was.

“Holy shit,” Pidge said in awe as we watched the ship go down, crashing into an empty patch of dessert nearby. “We’re awesome.”

“You can say that again,” Lance said with a smile. “Though I think the lions deserve most of the credit on this one. If we’re awesome, they’re amazing.”

Blue purred happily as her siblings let various levels of pride flow through their bonds. The Black lion in particular was fairly silent on the matter, only showing enough the essentially say ‘did you expect anything less?’

“Alright, great job everyone,” Shiro said. “Let’s separate and head back to the castle. Our work here is done.”

“Cool, cool, just one question,” Hunk said, holding up a finger telling us to wait. “Does anyone know how?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


	14. Trust all around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red is pushy, Lance talks, and Keith learns to trust a bit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Long time no see! Thank you for your patience. It's been a pretty crazy few weeks (Months?) and i haven't had a chance to post this until now. I had a little trouble with this chapter but hey, it turned out alright in the end. It's also almost 4,000 words so have fun with that! : )
> 
> also, i just found the perfect song for this fic! Oddly enough it's called "It's Time" By Imagine Dragons. I just felt like sharing that real quick : )
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

Keith wandered around the castle, half lost as he searched for something in particular or, he supposed, some _one_ in particular. He wasn’t exactly sure where they’d be at the moment so he was checking everywhere he could think of, and wasn’t having much luck. Needless to say, he was getting pretty frustrated.

He felt a tickle of amusement in the back of his mind that he was fairly sure wasn’t his. This was happening a lot lately, foreign emotions popping into his mind just long enough to make themselves known before disappearing again. He thought it might be Red trying to communicate with him, mostly because he couldn’t think of another explanation for it. He still wanted a second opinion though, and Keith knew just who to ask. If only he could _find_ the guy.

He felt the amusement again, this time accompanied by a metal nudge down a different hallway he wasn’t originally going to take.

Keith paused, unsure if he should follow it or go the way he had been headed before. There was another nudge, this time more forceful, to head in the other direction. He sighed, turning to follow it’s directions though not without a few muttered complaints.

He followed their path for the next few minutes, taking turns wherever prompted. Before long he found himself in familiar territory. A little longer and he was standing in front of the Blue Lion’s hanger.

“I doubt Shiro’s in there,” he muttered flatly. Amusement made itself known again before he was nudged towards the door. “Fine, I wanted to talk to him anyways.”

Keith opened the hanger door, stopping in his tracks at the sight of Lance in some sort of harness, suspended up near his lion’s head.

“Hey, I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” he could hear Lance saying as he held a bucket in one hand and a soapy rag in the other. “There, I think I got all the sand now. Better?”

There was a pause as Lance plopped the rag back into the bucket.

“I was not flirting!” Lance exclaimed indignantly, hands on his hips. “This time.”

“Lance!” Keith called, getting the other boy’s attention.

“Speak of the devil,” Lance said with a grin. “You looking for me?”

“I was looking for Shiro but got led here instead,” Keith answered, crossing his arms. Lance lowered himself to the ground, touching down next to one of Blue’s paws.

“Red’s leading you places now, huh?” Lance said, unclipping himself from the harness. “That’s adorable.”

“So it _is_ him,” Keith said, ignoring Lance’s last comment for the sake of his sanity. “He’s trying to communicate with me through foreign emotions and these mental nudges, right?”

“Yup, that’s how it starts. Little emotions or feelings that aren’t yours. They become more frequent the stronger your bond becomes until their emotions are kind of just running in the background all the time. I hardly notice Blue’s anymore,” Lance said with a shrug. He paused a moment before rolling his eyes while rolling up his harness. “Ok, I do notice them but they don’t feel nearly as obtrusive. She wanted me to make sure you knew that. Anyways, soon enough he’ll be able to send images and words your way too. Though, I know Blue prefers sticking to vague thoughts and images then actually speaking, but that might just be her.”

“Red’s been very amused today,” Keith said, shuffling his feet awkwardly as Lance let out a short laugh.

“I have no doubt it has something to do with why he led you here instead of to Shiro,” Lance said. “That plus the way Blue’s been stalling her bath for the last half hour, one would think our lions had planned this meeting on purpose.”

“Great,” Keith said flatly. “Just what I need.”

“If you still want to talk to Shiro he’s helping Adam go through space info on the bridge. At least he was last I heard. I think It’s just an excuse for him to spend time with his man,” Lance said as he started putting away his equipment. “They’re still pretty awkward around each other.”

“If by awkward you mean Shiro pining while Adam acts like a dick and ignores him, then yeah, they’re very awkward,” Keith said. “But no, you answered most of the questions I had, surprisingly enough.”

“Hey, I know a lot about lion stuff, I’ll have you know!” Lance stated with a fake looking pout that had Keith shaking his head.

“Yeah, I think you know more about them then any of us here,” Keith said flatly, earning a large grin in response. “And you have yet to tell me how.”

“Oh yeah, I still owe you some explanations, don’t I?”

“Yeah, just a bit,” Keith said. “Like what were you doing up there?”

“Washing Blue, duh. She was mad at me over the whole ‘flying face first into the sand dune’ thing.”

“Which you did because why? I’m pretty sure you can do whatever we were supposed to be doing out there. You did know how to form Voltron that first time, after all, and I’m pretty sure you were the first one to be doing it. So why did you crash?”

“I got distracted, alright?” Lance said waving the rag around indignantly before ringing it out over a drain in the floor. “A guy can get distracted sometimes. Plus, if I was good at everything none of you would have a chance to shine. It’s a public service really.”

“I’m sure.” Keith said flatly, watching as Lance emptied the bucket down the same drain putting both items away as well. The Blue Paladin turned to face him, drying his hands on his pants.

“It’s true, but I don’t think me being awesome is what we’re supposed to be talking about. Not directly anyways,” Lance smirked at Keith before going to sit on one of Blue’s paws. “So why don’t you come into my office and we can talk about stuff.”

Keith hesitated, worried that Lance would push him for answers as well. But in the end his curiosity won out as he went to stand closer to Lance’s perch. He opened his mouth to ask his first question but was cut off by Lance motioning for him to pause. Finger still raised, the other boy looked up at his lion.

“Blue, if you could get us a little more privacy, that would be great,” Lance said, puppy dog eyes going strong. A few seconds passed before the hanger doors snapped shut and their lights turned red to show they’re locked. “Thanks beautiful!”

“The lions can do that?” Keith asked, staring at the door in awe. Lance chuckled lightly behind him.

“Shut their hanger doors? Yeah, of course. What’s the point of having your own room if you can’t shut the door?” Lance said. Keith looked back at him curiously to find the boy lounging on the lion’s paw, feet hanging off the end. “As for locking it and shutting down all the cameras, she had to talk to Green about that. They’re the only one with the type of access to the castle’s systems. Oh yeah Blue, make sure Green knows I appreciate their help as well.”

“Why are their cameras in here?”

“They’re everywhere. It’s for security reasons, in case someone breaks in. But, it has come to my attention that Allura has a habit of watching me through them, especially if I’m spending time with Blue,” Lance explained, kicking his feet out a little. “She knows I’m hiding something but I don’t really want her to know what yet.”

“Which is everything you promised to tell me,” Keith inched closer to the paw Lance was laying on. When the Blue Paladin didn’t react to the change, he climbed up onto the paw as well, sitting cross legged next to the other boy. “Why?”

“Well, you already know about my grandfather, which is the big thing I don’t feel like telling her right now. And you’ve been pretty chill about that so I might as well tell you the rest while I’m at it.” Lance shrugged nonchalantly, placing his hands under his head.

“I know your grandfather’s an alien that was friends with my parents,” Keith said. “They helped him with something very important and he swore he’d return the favor. That’s how my dad explained it anyways.”

“Must have been something to do with Blue,” Lance said glancing towards him as he spoke. “I mean your shack is pretty close to her so it would make sense that if something happened, your parents could have helped. Especially if your mom’s an alien.”

Keith flinched, shooting a glare at Lance.

“Say that a little louder, why don’t you,” Keith hissed. Lance just rolled his eyes.

“No one can hear us, have a little faith. I only brought it up to say that she would most likely understand Blue’s importance better than anyone on Earth would, so if something was wrong, she would probably have helped, right?”

“I guess,” Keith muttered.

He let the conversation lull into silence while he tried to sooth his nerves. He had never felt comfortable talking about his mom, let alone talking about the one thing he was told never to talk about.

“So, your grandpa was the last Blue Paladin, right?” Keith asked after a few minutes. Lance hummed an affirming tone, his eyes half lidded as if he were dozing. “How exactly did that work?”

“Blue chose him when he was about my age,” Lace explained simply. “She had another paladin before him but he wasn’t quite the right match so she waited. She knew he would be her paladin eventually, but he was still too young when she first needed one. Once he was old enough, she claimed him almost immediately. He was her paladin for about five years before the Galra attacked and they were send into hiding.

“Alfor had remembered the hassle Blue gave them when they first picked their paladins pretty clearly. She had taken months before grudgingly accepting a substitute for my grandfather only when it was absolutely necessary. Then, of course, the very sudden switch in paladins a few years later that left the rest of them reeling. So to avoid a repeat of that fiasco, he had a small cryo unit installed inside Blue and sent her paladin with her into hiding,” Lance said, grinning up at the ceiling as he spoke. “But Blue never really liked following other people’s plans so she let my grandfather out of cryo a hundred years ago, knowing that by doing so, I would come into being just in time for when she needed her paladin.”

“How did she know?” Keith asked. Lance glanced at him, his smile somehow even wider than before.

“Blue can see the future.”

Keith stared at him for a long moment, unsure he had heard him correctly.

“Um…what?”

“Blue can see the future. It’s a talent she has. She says it’s because she understands time better than her siblings but I’m not really sure what she means by that,” Lance said with a shrug. “But she knew if she let my grandfather out when she did, I would be ready to take his place when the time was right. And because she shared some of this knowledge with my grandfather, he knew I was coming too. So when I finally did make an appearance, he began training me for this.”

“You were _trained?”_

“My grandfather was the last paladin, of course I was trained,” Lance said, giving Keith a flat look. “Honestly it was mostly stories of his time with Blue so I knew what to expect. Well that coupled with language and combat classes.”

“I’m assuming those were two different classes,” Keith said, making Lance laugh.

“Sometimes. He has this habit of switching languages when he talks which kind of turned every lesson into an Altean lesson.”

“Your grandfather’s Altean,” Keith said, more of a statement then a question.

“I think you already know the answer to that one,” Lance said, catching his eye before Keith looked away.

“He has similar features to Allura and Coran. Particularly Allura.”

“Yeah they were kind of related, but not by much. A few generations back at the most,” Lance said offhand as a small, techy noise tried to make itself heard over him. “All that’s left proving that is our hair and a few facial features.”

“Maybe your grandfather’s hair but yours is …” Keith’s voice trailed away as he turned towards Lance, eyes wide. The Blue Paladin was looking away from him, fiddling with his watch almost nervously. But what surprised him was the fact that his hair was now stark white and was now sporting bright blue check marks on his cheekbones.

“Mine’s brown yeah, but that’ just hair dye. I found it a little difficult growing up with an abnormal hair color, especially coupled with the eye marks, so I kept both hidden. People can cruel to those that are different.”

“Your hair’s white,” Keith pointed out abruptly. Lance gave him an odd side look, his hands stilling.

“Normally, yeah. You can probably see it towards the roots since the dye’s been fading out.”

“No, your hair’s white now. There is no brown dye.”

“What?” Lance exclaimed, shooting up to a sitting position so fast that Keith had to dodge his head to keep from colliding with him. Lance pulled out his phone and immediately turned the front camera on.

“Come on!” Lance groaned, running a hand through his hair in disbelief. “How did this happen?”

“Didn’t the foyer strip Adam’s dye when we first arrived?”

“Damn hellfire/beach soap,” Lance grumbled, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “I guess it _isn’t_ brown. It’s just white. Again.”

“You still look human though.”

“What human, other than little old ladies, has hair like this? It’s freaky!”

“It’s less freaky than mine,” Keith muttered, avoiding Lance’s curious gaze in the silence that followed. He wasn’t sure what made him say that, if he was being honest. Maybe it was the amount of trust the other boy was putting in him that made him feel like he could trust him with this. It didn’t help that he could feel Red nudging him again, this time pushing him to keep talking. Apparently, the pest of a lion agreed that he was trustworthy and felt like he should be trusted with more.

“It can’t be that bad,” Lance said after a moment, getting Keith out of his own thoughts. “It’s not like you’re some sort of slime alien or something weird like that.”

“How do you know? The watch could be hiding anything.”

“The watch, according to my grandfather’s notes, is a basic disguise device. It can change colors, hide markings, and even change small physical features like ear or nose shapes. It can’t make a blob of slime look human or make a tail disappear. And technically it doesn’t change anything it just hides it under a layer of light so even if you _did_ have it change a nose shape it would just _look_ different. If someone punched you in the nose, they’d still be able to feel your real nose under their fist. So yeah,” Lance pointed out with a smile. He tapped his fist lightly against Keith’s shoulder to emphasize his point. “You’re no slime alien.”

“I’m probably worse than a slime alien.”

“What can be worse than a slime alien?”

“A Galra,” Keith whispered. Lance barely blinked at it.

“Well yeah, according to Allura they would be but…” Lance stopped, a thought occurring to him. “Wait, are we talking theoretically or are you being literal?”

Keith sighed, trying to sound more exasperated then nervous. It didn’t. He knew the only way to properly answer him would be to power down his watch as well, but he hesitated. Keith hated turning it off, even when alone. He was far more comfortable in his human appearance, as fake as it was. Whenever it was off, he was nervous someone would catch him and the whole thing would be done with. But there was not a chance of getting caught here, and Lance had gone through something similar after all. He knew how cruel people could be to the unknown, he said so himself. Keith knew he wouldn’t judge, but it didn’t help his nerves any.

He felt red nudge him with the distinct feeling that it meant something like ‘do it sooner, get it done sooner.’ Keith thought he was being very impatient, which resulted in another, firmer, push towards trusting the Blue Paladin.

Keith glanced over at Lance, a little surprised the other boy had stayed quiet during the thirty seconds he spent weighing his options.

Pushing up his sleeve slightly, Keith’s hand hovered over the watch as Lance’s eyes widened.

“You don’t have to show me, you know. If you’re not comfortable with it then I can live with the mystery,” Lance said, cracking a smile.

“It’s alright,” Keith said, before rethinking his words. “I mean, it’ not really. I don’t turn off the device. At all. But it’s alright for now. It makes sense plus…”

“Plus?”

“Red’s being pushy again,” he mutters, making Lance laugh. “He trusts you and, from what little time I’ve spent with him, I can tell that means something. He doesn’t trust many.”

“You have a nosey lion,” Lance said between chuckles. “But Blue’s nosey too so you’re in good company.”

Keith nodded, using the distraction to convince him to press the off button on his watch. There was a small, techy sound again as the tell-tale light show went off before leaving his body entirely. He could already tell that the watch had stopped doing its job, his hand having turned back to its original bright lavender color, his nails a darker shade of the same color. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see his hair take on a darker hue with just enough purple in it to make it seem unnatural. Keith didn’t need to look to know that his marks on his cheeks would be back as well as the slight point of his ears, both of which he inherited from his mother.

Lance looked at him for a long moment, his face unreadable to the Red Paladin. After a few, very tense seconds Lance simply leaned back onto his arms, taking a very relaxed pose yet again.

“So you were being literal about the Galra thing.”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“Keith gawked, not expecting that reaction.

“Cool? How is that cool?!” He exclaimed as Lance barely reacted to it. “I’m literally the thing we’re fighting!”

“You don’t look like Zarkon to me.”

“I’m a Galra!”

“And I’m Altean. But that doesn’t make me a saint no more than a bit of purple skin makes you a villain,” Lance said with a shrug. “Now if you had a tail, maybe. People with tails are naturally devious. Especially if they’re cat-like tails. Those people must inherit the soul of felines or something because they’re absolute bast-“

“I don’t have a tail.”

“Well then, you’re safe,” Lance said with the weird finger gun/wink combo.

“But seriously. You’re not bad as you think.”

“I couldn’t go into public until your grandfather gave me that watch when I was six.”

“That’s because most humans are very small minded,” Lance said with a shrug. “I, on the other hand, am alien enough to admit that this isn’t that bad of a look for you. In fact, I think it’s quite cute.”

Keith’s brain stopped working for a good few seconds upon hearing that. His face flushed immediately as Lance laughed.

“Hey, look at that, now your face is red instead of purple.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is! Even your ears are red.” Lance paused, looking closer at the Red Paladin for a moment. “Holy crap! Your ears are pointy! That’s amazing!”

“What?”

“You’re like a space elf!”

Keith glared at him for a long moment before deciding enough was enough and shoving the boy off the lion’s paw with his foot. There was a satisfying shriek as Lance disappeared from view, followed by a thump.

“Owww…. why are you so mean to me?” Lance whined form the floor. Keith crossed his arms with a scowl.

“Retaliation,” was his only answer.

“For what? Compliments? Guess I won’t be calling you an adorable little shit like I was planning then, am I?”

“You know what you did,” Keith said his face turning bright red as he pointedly ignored Lance peaking up over the side with a pout.

“If this is seriously now you react to compliments, I’m not surprised you’re single,” Lance muttered.

“I’ll kick you to the floor again. Don’t tempt me.”

“You’re no fun.”

“And we’re done here,” Keith said, hopping off the lion’s paw and heading towards the door, starting to turn his watch back on as he moved.

“Hey Keith,” Lance called just as he got to the door. “Seriously though, thanks for trusting me. I won’t tell anyone, even if it means keeping my own secret longer than I was planning. I mean, if I reveal mine and show off the watch, they’ll know that there’s something hidden by yours too. All I’m saying is that I’ll keep my secret until your ready to tell yours so I don’t accidentally out you via tech. Ok?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Keith said, unsure how to react to such statement.

“And Keith?”

“What?”

“You really do look cute like that.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Keith grumbled, turning on the watch and knocking on the door. He hoped Green would get the message and let him back out but he wasn’t sure how that worked. A moment later the door unlocked and opened for him, saving the Red Paladin from having to stay there mush longer.

“I’m serious!”

“I’m leaving.”

“Take the compliment damn it!” Lance shouted towards him as the Keith hurried out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.
> 
> Also, i doodled this scene so if you want to see what Lance and Keith look like without their watches on [Then head over here](https://tblsomedoodles.tumblr.com/post/185944349036/inheritance-lance-and-keith-finally-this-is)


	15. I say 'VOL', you say 'TRON'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paladins throw a party, Keith gets frustrated, and Lance has a chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back! I really have no excuse for why this is so late other than i kept forgetting to type it up. But at least now the next chapter is almost done so you probably won't have to wait a six weeks for an update! : ) I'll have you know, i'm getting into one of the first scenes i had planned for this fic, and i'm REALLY EXCITED about it!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> TBL

“Come on, Keith! It’s not that hard!” Lance exclaimed almost spilling his cup as he waved his arms around. “Haven’t you watched any cheerleading movies?”

“I don’t watch a lot of movies,” Keith said flatly, eyeing his own cup suspiciously.

“You’re killing me, smalls!” Lance stated, getting suspicious look of his own from Keith.

“Was that a short joke?”

“Holy shit, we need to get you on Netflix, stat.”

“Can we even get Netflix in the Castle?” Hunk asked as he observed the food trays floating around, making sure their guests were enjoying the hors d’oeuvres he helped make.

“I’m sure Pidge and Green can figure it out,” Lance said waving away the concern. “But until then…”

“Please don’t say we’re trying the chant again,” Keith pleaded.

“We’re trying the chant again!”

“Damn it.”

“It’s easy! I say ‘Vol,’ you say ‘Tron.’ Vol!”

“…Voltron?”

“No. Try again. I say ‘Vol,’ you say ‘tron.’ Vol!”

“Voltron,” Keith said, sounding more frustrated than before. Lance just gave him a flat look.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you,” Lance said, taking a sip of his drink.

His was already half gone while the rest of his group had barely touched theirs. He had been a little concerned about it when the others had almost spit out their first trial sips, comparing it to rancid hot dog water. But when he hadn’t found it quite that bad. Yeah, there were other stuff that taste better but it was definitely better than hot dog water. It kind of reminded him of beer, if he was being honest.

“How can you drink that stuff?” Keith asked. Lance shrugged.

“I’ve had worse,” Lance said. “Plus, it gives you a little buzz so it’s not all bad.”

“Buzz? I don’t have a buzz,” Hunk said glancing at his cup as Keith sent Lance a worried look. Lance waved it away with his cup.

“Maybe you haven’t drank enough? Mine’s twice as empty as yours is and-“

“And you are done!” Coran chimed in, plucking Lance’s cup out of his hand as he passed.

“Hey! I was drinking that!” Lance protested.

“Not anymore,” he called over his shoulder while navigating through the sea of short aliens. “If you are still thirsty, grab some water.”

“Buzz kill,” Lance muttered with a pout.

“What buzz? There was no buzz!” Hunk exclaimed.

“You’re just not trying hard enough,” Lance said, stealing a glance at Keith once again.

The poor boy was looking even more frazzled for some reason. He was shooting Lance warning glairs that Lance was pointedly ignoring. He had things under control. Just because the drink was affecting him a little didn’t mean he was going to spilling the beans. At this point Keith was more likely to give it away with his unnecessary worrying than Lance was.

Though, he figured it was probably best Coran took the drink when he did since Lance didn’t know how he’d react if he had much more of that stuff. The others were fine, sure but they also weren’t one fourth Altean drinking a drink made for Altean parties. He had the feeling that might have had something to do with it. He also had a feeling that Keith had come to that same conclusion some time ago.

“Anyways, with that out of the way…” Lance tried to continue but Keith cut him off.

“I’m not trying that chant again.”

“But it’s a good chant!”

“Obviously not if you came up with it.”

“Coming up with a chant and adapting an old, time proven chant that you should know, are two different things.”

“How is it time proven if I’ve never heard of it?”

“Just because you, a dude who’s lived under a rock for your whole life, doesn’t know it, doesn’t mean it’s not time proven.”

“I lived in a desert.”

“Same thing.” Lance waved the statement away just as he saw Adam pass close by.

“Here, I’ll show you. Hey Adam!”

Said pilot turned his attention towards the paladin with a raised eyebrow.

“I say ‘vol’ you say ‘tron!’ Vol!”

“Voltron,” Adam answered, a hint of a smirk on his face as he continued weaving through the crowd.

“Hey! You were listening in! That’s not how you do the chant and you know it!” Lance glared at the man’s back indignantly, catching sight of Coran as he snuck away from the party nearby.

Lance paused, the need to follow the older Altean appearing strong in his mind. He watched the man disappear through the doorway, trying to figure out why following him was so necessary because it definitely felt like it was.

A light touch on his shoulder brought Lance back to the present, particularly the worried Keith trying to get his attention.

“You ok man? You zoned out for a second there,” Hunk said, peering over Keith’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lance said, flashing them both a grin. “Anyways, I’ll be back. I have to go…somewhere.”

“Well ok, as long as you’re alright.”

“Is it something with Blue?” Keith asked, not looking anymore reassured than before.

“No, she’s staying quite right now. Not sleeping, just not being as talkative as normal. I think she’s upset about something but she won’t tell me what.”

“Red’s been quiet too. Do you think something’s wrong?”

“If there is, we’ll find out soon enough.” Lance shrugged nonchalantly. “If I’ve learned anything being her paladin, it’s that worrying over stuff like that won’t do any good.”

“Then why do you have to go?”

“Because I do. It’s hard to explain and I really don’t have the time to do so right now,” Lance said, slipping out of Keith’s lax grip easily. “I’ll be back! Hold down the fort for me, will yah? Pidge has been circling fairly close to Allura and you know how well those two get along!”

“On it!” Hunk snapped a lazy salute before going to find the Green Paladin. Lance waved to Keith, disappearing from the party without much trouble.

Lance looked around the empty hallway, perplexed. He could have sworn Coran had went this way, but there wasn’t a single sign of him there.

“Hey Blue, mind giving me a hand?” He asked sweetly. She was silent for a long moment, a feeling of reluctance coming from her that confused Lance greatly. He wanted to ask her what was wrong but she showed him where Coran was before he could. He definitely didn’t know why Coran was on the bridge, but as he headed in that direction, he couldn’t help but feel she was right.

Lance sent her a thank you that she didn’t respond to.

Walking into the bridge, Lance saw Coran standing in the middle of the room. He had his back to the door as he gazed at a holographic star map in front of him.

“Hey Coran, why’d you leave? The party was just getting started,” Lance exclaimed happily.

“Ah, young Lance. You left early,” Coran noted, glancing towards Lance as the boy made his way into the room. There was something off with how the older Altean spoke but Lance couldn’t, for the life of him, figuring out what it was.

“Yeah, it was getting a little crowded so I decided to get some air,” Lance said glossing over his real reason with a smile. “You?”

“About the same,” Coran said with a nod.

“What yah looking at?” Lance asked, stopping next to Coran to gaze at the stars in front of him. They were holographic, yes, but that didn’t make them any less beautiful.

“Oh, this is the star system we’re currently inhabiting. Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Beautiful.” Lance smiled. “Where’s Earth on this thing?”

“Good question. You don’t happen to know the star coordinates, do you?”

“Oh yeah!” Lance raddled of said coordinates with ease. Papa Allot had insured that he had memorized them just in case. You never knew when you would be lost in space and just wanting to go home.

Coran put the coordinates through and they watched as the map scrolled for what seemed to be an endless amount of time before finally stopping on a bright yellow star system.

“That’s…a long ways,” Lance commented quietly. The little bit of homesickness he had been starting to feel making itself known.

“Miss home?” Coran asked gently.

“Yeah, I just didn’t realize how much until now.” Lance whipped his eyes, drying the tears before they could fall. Coran patted his shoulder comfortingly, making Lance feel a little better.

“It’s hard, especially when you’re this far from home for the first time. But it will get better, and when you finally do get back, it will be that much sweeter.”

“Thanks. I needed that,” Lance said, his smile a little week but serviceable.

“Here,” Coran said, putting in some new coordinates and sending the stars flying again. When it came to a stop, Coran zoomed in on what looked like an asteroid cluster. “This is where my home planet once stood. It’s not much to look at anymore but back in its day…”

Coran paused putting some more instructions into the system. Before Lance knew it, the measly rock cluster was pulled back together to form a planet. It was a bright blue color with whites and pinks and yellows all mixed in. There was two tech looking rings running opposite each other.

“It’s gorgeous,” Lance said in awe.

“She was nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.”

“I’ve heard stories and not but I don’t stand up to this.”

“I’m sure Allot described it to the best of his ability.”

“Yeah, can’t fault him for that. I mean I wouldn’t be able to…” Lance’s voice trailed away as he realized what he was talking about. He glanced over at a very smug Coran. “You know? How do you know?!”

“You mean other than the fact you’re the spitting image of our previous Blue Paladin? And you act just like he did when he was your age?” Coran asked, turning all his attention towards Lance. “I may be old, but my brain’s still young enough to notice things like that.”

Lance just stared at him as he chuckled to himself.

“Though honestly, what gave it away were these,” Coran said, motioning towards his own face markings?

“Your eye marks?”

“No, yours.” Coran said. Lance raised an eyebrow questioningly. “The marks, on a full Altean, are supposed to supply a sense of calm and comfort when touched by someone else, especially if it’s someone you trust. Unfortunately for hybrids, it usually just shorts out their mind because it can’t translate the stimulus presented to it.”

“And that kept happening when I had that cut on my face,” he realized. “Wait, you’ve known since then?!”

“For the most part. I didn’t know for sure until now.”

“Because I just stupidly confirmed it, right?”

“And because I don’t have the room’s translator running at the moment.”

“We’ve been speaking Altean?!”

“Certainly. You didn’t notice?”

“I started learning Altean when I was really young. I don’t always notice a difference,” Lance moped. Coran only smiled in amusement. “That explains a lot.”

“Well, I figured you had your reasons for keeping it secret so I never felt the need to mention it. Whether you were up front about your father’s identity or not doesn’t change the fact that you are Blue’s paladin.”

“Grandfather.”

“Pardon?”

“Allot is my grandfather,” Lance pointed out. “Blue released him a hundred years too early. He traveled for a while and eventually fell in love. They then had my mom who later had me. Well, she had my siblings and _then_ she had me. I’m the youngest.”

“Impressive,” he said with a smile. “I assume Blue let him out so early because she knew you’d be around when she needed a paladin, correct.”

“So you know about Blue’s ability too?”

“In that she can see the future? Yes,” he explained. “I was at Alfor’s side for a long time. I was there when he started his alliance with the other paladins, I was there when he built Voltron, and I was there when everything fell apart. I remember when he first realized his creations had become sentient. Oh the look on his face when Red tried communicating with him for the first time. It was priceless.

“Not long after that they found out that each Lion had their own special abilities. And I’m not talking about the different weapons or armor that you all will eventually unlock. I’m talking about their Talents, at least, that’s what the lions seem to refer to them as. It stems from being able to understand something better than the rest. Because they understand it so well, they can read it or manipulate it to their will.”

“Blue always says she understands time better than her siblings.”

“Precisely. Because of that, she can see the future and see glimpses of the past. If I remember correctly Red’s talent is for the mind, Black’s is for space, Green’s is for matter, and Yellow’s is for quintessence. Those maybe very broad topics, but each of them uses it in a very specific way, for instance though Green’s is matter, as in the very make up of things, they most often uses it to manipulate technology. If one knows something all the way down to its cursory atoms, then reading electric pulses and changing them to their will would be easy, don’t you think?”

“That explains why Green is so integrated into the Castle.”

“They did that long ago, before it was castle, in fact. They know everything that happens in this ship and, with the right paladin and a strong enough bond, the Green Paladin would know what Green knows.”

“Oh God, Pidge is going to be unstoppable,” Lance lamented. “Can I change my mind about the paladin thing?”

Coran laughed loudly.

“Nope, you’re stuck here with the rest of us,” Coran said happily. “Best get used to it.”

“Do you know how much Blackmail that little gremblin is going to collect once he realizes this? We’re all doomed to being his slaves for the rest of our lives!”

“Speaking of your teammates, we should head back to them before they miss us.”

“You mean before Allura decides I’m up to something?”

“That too.”

The pair headed towards the door, a small triangle shaped bot flying in just as the door opened.

“Hey Rover,” Lance said, sending a wave towards the small bot as it passed.

Lance froze.

Something wasn’t right.

His eyes darted around frantically before narrowing on the bot. Rover hadn’t left Pidge’s side since the boy reprogramed him. He also knew for a fact that the bot had ‘Byte me’ laser engraved onto the back panel as a joke. Which was something this particular bot didn’t have.

That wasn’t Rover.

_“Move!”_ Blue shouted in his mind, pushing the boy into action. Lance darted forward, shoving Coran out the door just as the room exploded.

All Lance knew was that he was in pain. It was everywhere; his arms, his legs, his back. Especially his back. He didn’t think he could move even if he wanted to.

Blue’s consciousness was there, trying to be comforting. Lance could feel the fear and worry she was trying to hide.

Her quintessence wrapped around him, lulling him to sleep as visions danced across his eyes. He was unconscious before he could recognize any of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my [tumblr](https://tblsomestories.tumblr.com/) in you feel like checking it out.


End file.
